Hello again Stan old chap smile

Thanks for your response to my question

As far as timber framing goes I am a new starter, I am a joiner but have developed a serious interest in the specifics of hand cut timber frames with a view to designing and building my own in the not too distant futrue.

I dont know much about making building components with cnc machines, although I spent 4 years digitising full scale drawings to drive cnc cutters and routers for sign making, (clients like british airways, british petroleum, ford garages etc). I had to work (editing)as close as 1/10 mm. The computer might be clever but it cant understand wood and work in synch with its unpredictable and continually unique nature. The way you elevate the "precision" and "accuracy" of components produced by the cnc system, and look down on traditional timber framing (cos its not as squariely square as your beloved cnc unit can produce) reminds me of the sneering contmept my old bosses had for the traditional signwriters they were putting out of work (cos their letter forms werent "consistently reproducable") :rolleyes:
I just had an idea-why not machine your components from solid pvc-much more stable and predictable; you could even weld them together on site or even better get on the phone to germany and get them to design an extrusion that will squeeze little "units" out, one every 2.8 minutes wink laugh
At the end of the day housebuilding can be high volume assembling of characterless impersonal indentikit units, wasteful of materials and energy, working on short term fashion and profit goals. Or alternatively it can be a social community effort, where homeowners and there neihbours take an active part in designing and creating there own homes; building to last (yes its a serious concept, not a joke-why shouldnt a dwelling last 600 years? plenty have at least in the uk); using or recycling materials that can be obtained from sustainable sources and not harmful to our environment and not demanding vast amounts of energy (to make in a factory, transport around, break up and dispose of to make way for the next fashion trend etc)
Cheers Jonathan cool