This isn't quite a build log as I want to wait until I'm making lots of consistent progress - few things are as annoying as a log that looks great for two posts and then goes silent for a year :confused:

I had the opportunity to catch up with John S in his workshop this week. He's a gentleman, a scholar and and all-round good chap I left* a little poorer in pocket, but richer in knowledge and with a pile of materials to put to work.

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My original plan was to use 80x40 (or more) for weight and surface area, but I think the 40x40 will make a good building and learning exercise. It's also like Lego, but for adults! The great thing about it is that I could knock together a few ideas and see them take shape in front of me, rather than have everything on paper or screen. I also get to poke, prod and wobble things to see how they act. Before any aluminium gets cut I want to have a clear idea of how I want it to go together.

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Dimensions are "off" because I'm approximating the structure but to be honest I could do most of this with very few cuts - also known as "less chances to bugger something up" - if I would accept something bigger than planned. The only problem is that it would also need increasing the size of other more expensive components. The example here is dimensionally fairly close to what I want, though (i) the gantry is far too low and (ii) the distance from the gantry to the far end of the router is too long, requiring those components to be trimmed at some point.

The pieces of alu that run along the inside of the "wall" are for a mounting location for the rails, though I'm still considering how to do this effectively.

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I'm thinking that using alu plate as sidewalls will help brace the structure and improve rigidity. What I don't really know is whether there is a minimum plate thickness to make it worth adding in the first place - 500mmx500mmx5mm would work out as £19+VAT per side, but would it be sufficient? Going up to 10mm doubles the price, but does it give double the value for my purposes? I simply have no experience or frame of reference for answering those questions, which is one of the reasons why I throw myself on the mercy of the wise members of this forum!

So, in summary, I've got some new bits to work on and that brings me a step closer to the goal. Brace yourselves for lots more annoying questions. Thoughts and input always welcome!


* eventually. Actually, I completely forgot to watch the time and my wife rang me up to tell me off and suggested I get a move on :whistling: