Quote Originally Posted by IanS1 View Post
Fairly new here but I've finally got started on my design. The machine will be used for cutting ally, tool steels and other metals, it may do the odd bit of timber/MDF/plastics.
This design won't cut Tool Steel or Mild Steel it's absolutely no where near strong enough. It will only just about handle Aluminium.

If you want to cut Tool steel or any Steel then I'd suggest converting a Milling machine or at the very least build a Moving table machine and massively beef up the frame.
A moving gantry machine is not the right choice and the Gantry and frame would need to be 5X stronger than what you have designed and then require the correct spindle.

The twin rails while adding some extra support in one area actually weaken the machine in another has the rails they sit on can no longer be supported and thr frame work between them would need to be made very strong with lots of triangulation braces. You could gain just has much support and save money while increasing machine strength with just one set of rails/bearings by making the bearing spacing much wider. Obviously this would require the machine to slightly longer to achieve the same cutting area but would be far better.

Honestly scrap this design or heavily redesign and beef up if you want to cut any Steels other than Alu.!!