Sturdy and Fast all Steel CNC , my first build

[Boyan Silyavski]

If this guy is wanting mainly to do 3D work then I'd also look to make the Front Z axis plate the narrowest and lightest you can make it.
Keep the Y axis bearing spacing wide but bring the Z rails in the most you can get away with and have light narrow front plate.

3D requires fast directional changes and high acceleration so anything to help here will speed up the job.!

Regards the motor access you have enough width and height in that plate to cut an access hole for motor and still not lose any strength, will cut weight too.! . . .Win win.!!

Thanks Dean,

I finished with a 130mm wide fron z plate. It should be enough. I dont believe it can compromise anything, as in my router i have exactly this plate using only one slide with the wide flat rail+ 2 bearing blocks and is ok strong. However i would not like do it like this in this build, cause later i have to play a lot with hole placements and finding screws that could fit under the plate and then aligning it. As i did with mine.

I have another question. When laser cutting, should i do exact holes that hold the plates to the bearing blocks or i should elongate them. Cause how do i know that the rotating nut will fit exactly at that place. Otherwise i will loose some millimeters from the travel. How it is done?