First tests of CNC milling

• Research and preparation  - this posting
• Assembly
  
• Software setup- this posting
• 4th axis - TODO 
• RS485 spindle control

I got it to mill my first test models from the CAD program down to executing the toolpath on my new CNC mill.
I used:

• the demo version of MACH3 (limited to 500 lines of g-code and a low speed. carving-cnc had a printout of the settings.)
• Deskproto 30 days eval version. (4 axis version is nearly 1000eur. It's really nice to work with but I won't use this after the 30 days. Just too expensive.)

For MACH3 I found that I had to calibrate the steps/mm (settings tab, lower left corner).

The supplied settings where moving about 150% of the intended travel. So e.g. G1 Y100 moved to 158mm .

Lessons learned so far:
Things that default to imperial units suck.
Ok,.imperial units suck in general.
A spindle is very good at heating up a full bucket of water in no time even at minimum speed.
I need better clamps to fasten things to the work table.