Quote Originally Posted by JonnyFive View Post
The gantry will be the same 160x80 ali extrusion whichever way I go with the frame.

Is the 50N loading a fair number
The 50N loading in which direction.? However, to be honest, no matter the direction the correlation between simulation in SW and real-world when it comes to cutting and vibrations etc won't match.

What I can tell you from experience of building god knows how many steel-framed machines is that the extra cost of using thicker steel pays big time regards vibrations. The loads going into the machine don't come close to stressing the steel so it's not something worth fretting over.

Regards the Gantry then again most of my machines use HD ITEM Profile. If you want a much stiffer gantry then I'd suggest you change design slightly and go with L shape setup like I use. Over the years I've used both setups and the L shape is far far stiffer and two pieces of 120 x 80 arranged in an L shape gives much stiffer gantry with lower vibrations than single 160x80.