Quote Originally Posted by bigal999 View Post
Hi thank you for the advice it's just what I needed I helps a lot on the design I was planing to use cap heads and sink them level with the surface.
This brings up another couple of questions.
1. Over a 600 mm length can I expect any flex on the gantry this will be an aluminium plate 600x150x15.
2. Should the bolts used be stainless steel or high tensile ones.
Thank you
Albert
A simple plate for the gantry like that will flex and vibrate more than you think. I would go for something with a proper depth like box section or aluminium profile.

Both bolt types will work for what you need. But high tensile would be used in an application where the loads being applied are enough to break a regular bolt. That shouldn’t be the case for a CNC machine where you are after stiffness not ultimate strength and they are probably more expensive so stainless will be fine.