Gantry design and FEA analysis

[Voicecoil]

I also made my Z plate thinner as I realised 20mm thick tool plate is out of my budget. If I have done the simulations correctly then the numbers still look promising. I will look to add the fixed plate at the back tomorrow. Thank you very much for your input

Tip: if you can add some bits of bar to stiffen your Z-plate (i.e. turn it into a channel section) you will do better cost for cost than a flat plate. For example a 10mm plate 180mm wide with some 30 x 15 bar fixed down the edges is about 2.5x as stiff front to back as a piece of 20mm plate 180mm wide - go simulate it if you want to. I mention this because you generally end up with some space between the front and back z plates due to having to accommodate the carriages, ballscrew etc., so why not put something useful in there. The front (moving part) of the z-axis maybe isn't such an issue as the z rails will stiffen that.

PS If you want 0.1mm accuracy, you will likely need to design for static deflection figures rather better than that - remember that cutting metal produces a lot of vibration which can mess things up.

PPS what FEA package are you using? looks good.