"DeusEx"

[mocha]

Thanks chaps! Jazz, that's alloy porn! LOL, Very pretty. Is it in use / used or planned for the next one?

The location of the supported rails on their side is unusual isn't it? Most of the ones I've seen seem to be in the Z; up/down axis usually one facing up and one facing down. Any reason for doing it that way?

I've attached a few shots of something I was playing with to help me understand what I am trying to do... It's not to scale! more of a schematic block diagram sketch to see if it could be done, but comments are most welcome.

I've left out some of the elements so it can be seen easily. (like the colums parralell to the Z ballscrew joining the upper and lower Y axis motion, joining the upper and lower blue box sections etc.) and I've shown as bars things that could be plate etc. The purple areas are the supported rail, any other questions just shout. If you want to play with the Sketchup file PM me and I'll send it over as Google wont let me upload it, they must have standards! lol.

As I said it's not to scale and not an opimised design, putting the ball screw mount under the 3rd Y axis support, moving the Z ball screw closer to the spindle, etc. could all help to reduce the overall footprint - although the overall size should be spindle + ballnut + Y axis support? could drop it in the region of under 200mm??

I'm wondering if the ideal position for a high sided frame design be putting the whole of the Z axis UNDER the Y axis? (but I might have OD'd on the coffee this morning LOL)