Feedback on 1.0 design

[njcook]

Worked this up in Sketchup so as to get a visual on an idea thats been in my head a while.

The main purpose will be decorative hardwood, plastics, mdf, and functional aluminum piece work. Really no cutters over 7mm and mainly in the 3mm and smaller range. I have a few years experience as a machinist and I'd like to think this layout looks good for what I intend to throw at it.

I do not however know all the maths that you folks do as far as spec'ing for rigidity et al.

The base will be an epoxy granite attempt (a project in and of itself); rails @ SBR16 & C7 screws @ RM1605 from Chai on eBay; typical 2hp 80mm cartridge spindle with ER11 collet; 25mm cold steel carriage plates; 12mm mounting plate for the X & Y axis motion hardware cast into the frame.

Working with Travels of X 300mm, Y 400mm, Z 140mm (180mm spindle nose to table)

I intend to final level the Y axis bed with epoxy then send the frame out to a shop to finish the X axis rail plate - square it up to the Y axis bed then drill & tap for the rails & bearing blocks. If I can find a (reasonably priced) place that is able to, I'd like to have them finish the Y axis bed as well. At that point, slap the hardware together & shim til I can get the cumulative error under 0.15mm (0.005").

I will also mention that the reason for so much throat on the Z axis is for when I throw soft metals in there. This should leave me room for work holding and allow me to raise the piece up as close to the gantry as I can to get all the rigidity I can out of the job. Any work requiring the full Z travel will be wood, acrylic, nylon, or MDF at this time.

All that being said, please let me know what you think.
Also I'd greatly appreciate any feedback or sources for the formulas that I should be using to best estimate the machine tool design.

Nick