I've been spending the past few days doing two things: 

1. Looking at all the popular makerslide project and seeing how they were put together. It's a pretty simple system. My main concern is dust, but hopefully it will not be too big of an issue as long as the ways are sprayed with canned air occasionally and remain unlubricated. I may also try to cover them with baffles. I have ordered myself a nice dial indicator from ebay so I can measure the runout of the machine as I build it. Hopefully I can turn this information into rock -solid assembly instructions later. Inventables has been a great resource for this step. They are kind enough to supply many of the 3dmodels and drawings of the parts needed to assemble a makerslide system.

2. Experimenting with mold silicones and resins in the manner described by the the guerrilla guide to cnc machining.. This has been educational. While it is a very simple process, it is messy and a vacuum chamber is required for good results. (Though this is mainly for the higher performance stuff). I have some ideas on how to simplify this process and reduce the mess.