My baby 15" x 15" machine

[wilfy]

If you are buying steel, these guys seem to be having a sale on at the moment, they also list the weight per metre wilfy:

100mm x 50mm x 3mm Mild Steel Rectangular Box Section - 1051216-1m

you my friend are a star :D i've bookmarked them for future reference.



after the great advice from jazz earlier i've set about re-designing and i acctually feel much better about the one and it should bring everything close to rails aswell as giving me less work




the green is the front where the router is bolted to, i aint had time to put that in but wanted to make this post before i go bed. it is just 50x25mm box with a 5mm steel plate on the front it's opaque so u can see the bearings underneath

the 2 rear views are my current options... due to the bearings being 60 and 62mm wide i need to either use 60x40mm box x 3 the total here is 900mm over the 3 pieces which using a rough math from jazz's earlier post i get them 3 piece at 4-5kg total or i could use a big 15?20? mm slab of alu as per the 3rd picture.. this will bring the design 20mm closer to the Y rails but more crucially it'll weigh a hell of alot less...

i would rather stick with steel as this is going to save me alot of money a rough guess see's the piece of the alu at £30 and the steel around £10 and thats before i go to a supplier with a full order with the hope of a price reduction... does anyone have any good reason why i should choose the alu over the steel?