Hopefully the parts for finishing the CNC mechanism - the rotating claw will arrive in the next couple of days. In the meantime, the machine needs something to test out it's capabilities. A conventional tractor was used to prepare the soil by ploughing with an old 2 furrow Massey Fergusson plough and then 'rotovating' - breaking up into a 'fine tilth' with an equally ancient Howard rotovator:

The beds are then marked out with stakes and baling string to create wheel tracks for the machine spaced at 56" centres. The bed itself is 44" wide and three rows of swede 'plugs' are planted at 12" (300mm) spacing. The claw itself is currently 180 mm diameter so there should be plenty of room for error and allowance for the plants getting bigger: