CNC MILLING AND 3D PRINTER IN ONE

Im a newbie to all of this and have the idea of having both a 3D printer and CNC miller in one i want to do this as cheap as possible, I have found an old A0 printer and am using the frame off that as a basis of the project. I think the basic set up of the two are the same with X Y and Z axis so I would like to have both a milling head and printer head on the same machine. The cutting area of the milling machine will be roughly a metre by a metre, and thus the print area will also be this big.
[cgi.ebay.ie]
the set up above is what I am thinking of buying and attaching to the frame altough i know very little about motors and electronics
would this be suitable for milling and 3D printing is it accurate enough?
I have to find a source of lead screws more than 1 meter long and am thinking of using normal threaded bar? would this be a bad idea or what will be the difference between them?

Any help atal would be brilliant or any information? I can post pictures and that aswell

Here you can find lead srews up to 2m: [www.maedler.de]

Wether this makes sense is a different question. Think how wobbly such a thing becomes and how long the mill bits have to be to mill something 1 meter high. Also, how often such a build volume makes sense with a 0.5 mm nozzle or a 3 mm mill bit. Printing something might take weeks ...

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

The motors in the link are designed for retro fitting a miling machine for CNC so should be suitable for what you want to use them for.

Don't use standard threaded bar, it is awful and bends. This introduces wobble in the carriage and results in rough parts. At the very least buy proper lead screws (acme etc.).

Its not common to use belts for a milling machine as they don't respond too well to bieng covered in swarf, but there is no reason why you cannot. It just depends on what you want to cut and how much load you want to put on it. Just use a wider belt if necessary. There are also belt configurations which overcome belt stretch on long lengths (The motor is attached to the carriage and a method akin to a rack and pinion type setup is used).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2012 05:18PM by martinprice2004.

hi thanks for your reply, no I dont want to mill or print anything 1 metre high, i just want a x, and y axis to be 1 metre and the z to be maybe 300mm high max. Building the rig is not my prob, the part I know very little about is the electronics, and stepper motors. I want the motor to be strong enough and quick but also accurate but dont understand the different spec such as 16 microstep? etc..?
[www.ebay.ie]
this is the kit I am looking at, i know it is a set for making a milling machine but I would like to be able to print aswell
Would this kit work with the free software for both printing and milling?
Will the extruder (that I will buy seperatly from the kit) work with the motor controller in the kit but also the temperature will have to be monitered and I dont think this kit is capable of that?
Any info would be great