Quote Originally Posted by Buba b View Post
So the next question is would you remove more material by wasting away or would you keep the mass of the side plates ... both has benifits , but i guess a lighter ganrty is the way to go
L8r
Incorrect priorities.
A heavy gantry (and machine in general) is good since you want to have as much strength as possible. Making cutouts, including the ones you have already drawn, just wastes strength and money. Rigidity is far more important than feedrate. If you're reducing the mass to improve the feedrate you're going about it the wrong way - you should select the motors and drivers to get the feedrate you require which, as Jazz said, means buying 70-80V drivers such as the M752. Bear in mind the stepper motor output torque at high speed is roughly proportional to the applied voltage, so going from 45V to 75V is a 67% gain in torque where it matters.