Sticking with this thread.

Found an excellent source of CNC hardware, ball screws, linear
products, you name it, so done a quick article about them on the site
at http://www.open-source-cnc.com/content.php?article.6

This guy is Boeing certified, Open Source friendly, and only recently
set up himself after the company he used to work for outsourced
production from the Uk to the Far East.

There's a moral in there somewhere, if I could only work out what it
was.

cheers