Brand new newbie

[JAZZCNC]

I have taken on board the advice given and have drawn another base.

Hi Martin,

Being honest now considering your going to use Aluminium or steel construction materials I think your over complicating this machine with the Torsion box (TB) design.
If using wood then I'd say fine has the Torsion box will compensate for what material lacks in strength but with Ali or steel then you don't have this problem for the level of accuracy required. Only reason I would maybe consider going to to the trouble and expense of TB is if I needed to hold very fine tolerances, and by that I mean really high like 0.0001.

Don't know if your aware of a guy on the forum called Micheal Marino.? But trying to cut very long story short I built Michael a machine from my scrap and scrounged parts from various mates etc. Micheal wanted to contribute but couldn't for distance and other issues reasons won't get into so the only way he could was with design so I mostly left design to him with just bit of guidance from me and between us came up with something that fitted his needs.

Now Sure Michael won't like me saying this but it's true he's Considered one of the best in world for building Custom harmonicas for world class players so the detail and accuracy of his very complex 3D combs his very high. . . . . So to give an idea of what can be archived this machine on a daily basis works to 0.01mm or better in Acrylic and some very very expensive exotic hard woods using Tiny cutters!!

Now the reason Michaels machine can hold these levels of detail is because of design style targeted to his needs just has much has the Strength of materials used along with attention to detail and build quality.

Now having seen (via email) the higher gantry sided design you have in mind then I can tell you the TB won't give you any more accuracy than if building in a conventional manner. The gantry sides will dictate the level not the base.

Now that said for the past 5yrs I have built and refined very similar machine(without TB) for cutting Wood,plastics and Light Ali work made from Profile and Ali plate and can tell you 100% it will do the job no problem with excellent accuracy with good DOC for it's targeted usage SOFTER materials and light ALU work.

BUT If needed to cut Hard materials IE Alu,Brass,copper,mild steel etc to higher accuracy and usable DOC etc then it requires a different design and your TB won't change or add anything of any note other than expense and time to a machine with high gantry sides.!

So if your usage is to cut Soft/hardwood materials to acceptable level of accuracy and DOC etc then go with conventional design and save the money and hassle of building TB. . . . Anything more then forget this design it will under perform.!!

Like Neil says I'd also use Steel to cut down on expense. Can tell you 110% that machine built from steel with Ali bed will do everything you want if designed to your needs and won't cost the earth.