Homebrew PCBs

>I have done some searching and it seems like all I have seen are too 
>high priced.  I know I would never even pay $1k for this, let alone 
>$2.5k I have been thinking about this for a while and I think it can 
>be done much cheaper while keeping it accurate and reliable.  I just 
>wanted to get some opinions on how much effort I should put into 
>designing such an animal.  First I would include stepper motors
>(possibly used), power supply, and controllers(x,y, and z axis) to 
>hook to a pc parallel port.  I would only include "free" software or 
>maybe shareware.  It would have a maximum accuracy of 2000 steps per 
>inch.  Runout on the slides would be .001" or less and would use acme 
>screws for the drive.  Spindle motor would either be included or just 
>accept a "dremel" type of tool.  
>
>
>I personally feel that much of America has become overpriced due to 
>too many office personel and salesmen.  I would like to be part of 
>the solution instead of the problem.  This is just one of my many 
>ongoing projects(most of them in my head) to try and make this world 
>more bearable.  
>
>Sorry, I'm just babling on....
>
>Ben Englund    

Ben,

Don't get this wrong. First, I would love to buy a good machine for <
$1k :-) so if you manage to create such a beast drop me a line. 

I'm just trying to point out that you should not underestimate this
project and that so far the useable offers (here in europe!) start at
about $2k.

So, good luck for your project and keep us up to date with your
progress.

Markus