You`re right on everything and I`m glad to hear comments relating to this subject...
I would avoid shops with CNC simply because they have big payments on these machines and I`m not going to contribute to that. Because this job can easily be done on 40 yr old manual mill with DRO, which is paid off and crew/owner will take the job for less profit.
I`m not talking heavy weight hobby machine keep in mind.
Axes X and Y do not need frame- the tooling plate IS the frame (picture). You build small linear stage for X and maybe 3' stage for Y. Axis x would be more difficult, linear ways need some type of frame.
I got the idea from KOMO type manufacturers. They seem to use whatever super heavy "crap" they can find and simply mill them before attaching rails. Their accuracy is unmached I know but hey, you shoud learn from the best
We`re still on Hobby Machines page but eventually some of these machines will become production machines
