[jdlopez65]

There are several important things you need to ask yourself before deciding which path to go down. You've stated a budget which establishes your boundaries. Does that budget include the CNC controller and software, or is it just the cost for the machine itself (not even going to mention tooling here)? How far down the "conversion" path are you willing to go? Looking for the quick and dirty to get some automation... or are you willing to go down the "complete remodel" path for your machine? You mention mod'ing it yourself, are you prepared to custom build all the parts you will need and are you willing to make whatever permanent modification to the machine casting that will be needed (base, table saddle, table, etc...). Are you looking to go full CNC and eliminate manual control? Etc, etc... I mention all of this because I too am going down this path.

I started designing my build well over a year ago. Spent a great deal of time in the design phase, essentially reverse engineering my design to fit commercially available parts (ball screws, stepper motors, adapters, etc...). Then I started manufacturing the parts. My design went down the slippery slope several times and where I ended up is probably overkill, but it is what it is! :-)

I've owned an X2 Mini-Mill for 15+ years. One of the decisions I made at the beginning was to start with the latest machine casting (the base, fixed-column, larger table, table saddle, spindle housing and mount). My design requires modifying everyone of these casting except for the spindle housing mount. As I stated above... I took my design over the top... and some of these changes are not necessarily required. Also changing some of the "commercially available" parts (for example: i could have used 12mm ball screws instead of 16mm) might require fewer mod's to existing castings.

I've attached a couple of design files of my build. Hopefully this motivates to customize your own. It's a lot a fun, a great deal of work and in the end.. it'll be yours!