Building a milling station -- group project?

[Matt]

From the flurry of activity on this forum regarding mills and milling set-ups, I am wondering if we couldn't arrange a couple of get-togethers to plan, and then build, our own milling stations.

Every plan would vary, depending on the mill you have, your power train (motor vs. drill, flywheel vs. direct-drive, etc), your cart/cabinet set-up, etc. BUT, we could all surely benefit from each others' experience/research on the subject, so we each end up with a final product that we love. For example, the mechanics I've pretty much got planned already, and I'm good with tools, but I'm a little concerned about wiring up the motor (and possibly capacitor) and switches and such. Others may have a good hand on the electrical, but could benefit from advice on the mechanical. Odds are we could all bring ideas to the table that we'd all benefit from. If we put enough heads together, or at least the right heads, we can all benefit from that combined knowledge and end up with milling stations we're all proud of... as opposed to fried motors or poorly constructed stations. :)

To that end, I was thinking a couple of garage parties would be perfect. One for planning, and one for actual building.

Now, I'd offer to host said parties, but I'm in Topeka so that's probably a long way for everyone to go, especially the second one, hauling motors and mills and carts in tow.

Perhaps if we could at least do the first one, and then plan to have our essential parts together by a certain date, we could schedule another gathering to do the actual builds together. If we work together on each others' plans, order parts together (discount?), and then get together to build them, we could also share tools, offer advice on finishing touches, make minor improvements, etc?

Just putting this out there to see what the level of interest is... and to see if someone who lives in/near town might want to host this first planning party? I'll bring beer and maybe order some pizza? :)

Matt