Thanks much for the clarification on the Z axis - that could save me an unexpected hassle for sure! I see the price differential the same way you do and, being that I'm going to be working exclusively with plastics on models and prototypes most likely, I'm not too worried about rigidity and getting consistent <0.0005 is not really an issue when you're cementing the parts together and using O-rings for seals
. I plan on following early feedback on this one so thanks also for pointing me to the Yahoo board.