5'x3' Ideas and build.

[Wal]

Cheers Jazz.

Nice looking gantry there. I entertained the idea of vee-bearings across the top and bottom edges with the drive passing through a slot like how you have it. Turns out getting hold of vee-bearings/rails etc isn't as easy and certainly not massively cheap enough to abandon supported rails.

Anyway. Yeah, you're right again. The slots are probably over-egging it. It works on paper, but I'm assuming that the plates are gonna be dead on 15mm, which is never the case. I'm going for something like this instead:



That's oversize, but there's the idea... When you talk about building in a bit of adjustment to things like brackets etc. - what do you mean exactly? Loose tolerances on clearance holes? That kinda thing? I'm a total noob, man - you'll have to forgive the stupid questions, but any pointers/links to illustrations always helps..!

In an earlier post, you recommended that I go for 16mm/10pitch ball-screws which, at 4 feet, would be running close to their limit - any reason why I shouldn't go for 20mm/10pitch screws, like these?

Incidentally - when I'm getting my plates cut, is it a good idea to get them skimmed to 15mm if they're a little bit over in thickness? You know, to maybe help get any surface 'bumps' out. Or does it really not matter that much?

Hearing you on the extra brace at the back/top of the gantry. Haven't got a clue where I'd fit bracing across the front of the gantry... If I'm bolting through the front of the gantry into the bracing at the rear, then surely that's going to increase rigidity in both directions (albeit in one of those directions it'll be the bolts doing the work...) I imagine that for cutting wood at moderate feed-rates with fairly shallow plunges the stiffness here should suffice without popping bolts...?

Thanks again for your help.