New Table Build, 12x6 work area, drawings up any advice?

Hello everyone, as my first post was not visible (I don't know why) here goes a second try. I am building a table with a work area of 12x6. It will mainly do plasma cutting but the occasional routing job may come up so I am building the gantry stiffness with that in mind. I plan to go with all aluminum to reduce the size of the motors and have a table that is lighter and faster than if I were to go with steel. not to mention aluminum tubing comes with better dimensions on the faces than with cold roled steel tubing. So I have my drawings done I am putting the final touches on the lengths and dims of that and I wanted some feedback. Here I am posting this up for you guys to either chew me out some or give me some kudos for a job well done. Here goes nothing... please refer to pics and provide any info on the matter, Thanks

I have a question... how far away should the slat supports be to avoid heavy cutting? In other words how far does the plasma go beyond the cutting area? I know thickness and amperage play a role but lets say 2mm thick mild steel?

Hi there, welcome to the forum!! I can't answer your second questions but can comment on your design!

You'll need some cross bracing on the frame and gantry, especially if you'll be doing occasional routing!

• How are you planning to have your Z axis mounted as the 4 tubes going 7' (?) across the table will flex like mad without any cross bracing/support.
• How are you joining the aluminium together, I'm assuming welding as I can't see any brackets for bolting?
• What are you planning on using for linear motion, supported round rail, linear profiled rails?

There are more questions but the answers to the above will no doubt throw up some more!

Thanks for the response! I will be using profiled rails for linear motion. I have not yet decided on which motors to go with but I'm looking into DMM tech and a company called Teknic because they have a good warranty. I do plan to add supports to the gantry. I will also be welding it together. The routing work the table will do is light so that's why I chose aluminum. I could go with steel if it's better overall. I wanted to ask the community here for guidance on that note. I'm having some questions on how successful other folks have been mounting the profiled rails to cold rolled steel tubing? Is accuracy somehow lost without a face operation on the rail side of the tubing? For motion on X axis I have some angled rack and pinion but can go with 32mm balls crew which do you guys feel would be best since it is the longest axis? Even at 32mm I kind of feel the ball screw may not be rigid enough. Any thoughts.