Quote Originally Posted by kingcreaky View Post

Pretty confident the guys will tell you to mount the Z rails the other way round.. so the Y plate holds the bearings and the moving Z has the actual rails if you understand? see my machine
If you look again Matt you'll see he's got it correct way round.!. . . BUT . . You have put the Ballscrew upside down with Fixed end at bottom. You want fixed end bearing near motor.


Quote Originally Posted by kingcreaky View Post
To be honest, I took all the useful pointers from the guys on here regarding strength and rigidity and resonance with a pinch of salt..I use 6mm steel box section and 50x100x6 ali for the gantry.... every one of my mates told me its over-engineered.

Now, I sh*t you not. It is only now my machine is working I understand what they were talking about. Its literally got to be SOLID AS A ROCK otherwise you watch the thing flex when cutting hard wood let alone Ali. Your only down the road... Come and watch mine do it before you spend any money
He really does shit you not.!! . . . Don't under estimate the forces they are high and if you want high Precision and accuracy then the average, and even well tooled up DIY-er can't over engineer.
Build it strong and don't be afraid of weight when it comes to gantry.? Better to have rigidity and sacrifice speed thru using larger motors than end up with flexy resonating gantry which gives crap finish.