Howdy from north Texas. It's time to build me a MechMate
 

I'm a retired Chemical Engineer that has been making sawdust for right at 60 years now. I have some serious woodworking equipment, but I can see that the MechMate can do some things faster and more accurately than I can with the tools I have. I spent the last thirty years of my career putting computer control systems in chemical plants, so the electronic side is familiar to me. Since I am also an avid Hot Rodder (Hi Darren), I am also familiar with metal work. I have already sent a big check to Metalhead for all the parts he sells, so I am committed. My plan is to build a 5 foot by 10 foot standard MechMate directly from the plans (blue of course). I also plan to go with a spindle and vacuum hold down as part of the original build. I bought the plans last year and have been famiarizing myself with them. Also, I have taken the recommendations of the Forum members and have read all the forum posts, twice. I don't guarantee that I remember everything, but I'm hoping that I can refrain from asking silly, simple questions. If I have to ask questions, I intend for them to be really hard ones.:D

Welcome aboard, sounds like a man on a mission!
Best of luck on your build.
Mark

Welcome Ron.

Sounds like you're ready to go. I'll be following your build as you go. Please keep us informed. Even those of us that have been on the Forum for years and have completed our MechMates like to see the progress photos of those building now.

Have you decided what spindle configuration to go with? I'm thinking of upgrading, so I would be interested in your decision making process when you get that far. I'm not going to be working on it until the fall.

I have been looking at the Colombo spindles, but I might end up with a water cooled GMT 2.2 kw. Decision hasn't really been made yet. Same with the VFD's, still evaluating.

Welcome Aboard Ron. Was great talking MM with you at the MSBB last year.
I'd expect nothing less than Ford Blue from you....
I'll say my Black Box vacuum does about everything I need it to do, but small parts require some "vacuum management".
Ask those hard questions. These guys (myself excluded) are hard to stump.
Best of luck.

Ron
If you decide to go with an electric spindle, contact the folks at BLURRY Customs. They are MM friendly people and I have put (2) of their spindles on two different machines over the years. Give them all call if you have any questions, great customer service.