Hey Guys,
To me, this is a DIY website, with lots and lots of people with all kinds of talents, and many who want to learn. Mach3 is not hard to learn, nor is VB scripting for it, or other things it could do. It does take time to learn it, and that depends on how much of it your willing to do. I think at a DIY site, the whole point is to stretch your abilities so you CAN do it all your self.
If you are a "Commercial" guy, then doing an ATC may not be worth your time. But, if your a DIY'er, or Tinker, or an Inventor, or "That Nut that lives down the street". I say, Encourage those that want to try and do. Nothing wrong with letting them know some of the things they should consider: in Time, money, etc. But, why discourage? Even IF his ATC or what ever he is willing to try and build fails, he will still have learned many useful skills, and gained knowledge. You can't learn if you don't try. I RESPECT him or anyone who has the GUTS to try and make a device AND post those pics and questions here.
The reason you don't see a lot of "Posted" attempts at this or that, is most don't want to face all the Negative posters. I received many, many negative and personal attacks on the prototype when I was working on it. After that "Fun" experience. I decided to only post on places like ArtSoft USA - Home of Mach3 and LazyCam or the Mach Yahoo group. On those sites, you don't get attacked, people just ask questions, since they to want to learn from your experiences.
BTW: Just so, it is clear, I am not trying to start a Posting war, just saying this world is tough enough. My thought is this, I bet that where ever you live, you are the ONLY guy on your block, or subdivision, or town that has built or retrofitted, or even OWNS there own CNC machines in the Basement!!! Hehehehehe
Scott
Commercial Mach3: Screens, Wizards, Plugins, Brains,PLCs, Macros, ATC's, machine design/build, retrofit, EMC2, Prototyping. http://sites.google.com/site/volunteerfablab/