Hi Clive, thank you for your welcome.

Let me rephrase this. I meant without using pulley reduction, i.e. no pulleys, just direct drive.

I have no problems with using pulleys either, I use them a lot for my motion control projects. And for the Z, being more distant from the swarf, it makes even more sense, plus the extra torque from the reduction, etc. Still, since I am cutting the fixing plate tomorrow, I am in two minds...

Edward