Jazz, was this what you meant when you were talking about having the y-axis bearings travel over the x-axis and make the front z-axis plate narrower? I like this design as I've gained about 30mm of cutting width and I've got a wider spacing on the y-axis bearings (in fact it looks like I could still go wider). The z-axis front plate is now just wide enough to take the rails and the ballscrew.

Click image for larger version.  Name: 2013-08-17 more y cutting.png  Views: 1962  Size: 81.2 KB  ID: 9537

I wasn't happy with the x-axis cutting length after putting the thicker 20mm plates on the z-axis so the x-axis has grown 100mm :-). I've also been working on getting the stepper in for the y-axis. You can see the hole in the gantry back plate for the belt. The stepper will be mounted on a gantry side plate.