Quote Originally Posted by oldmam4m80s View Post
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I did think about the two screw option on an axis and if I had to the shorter of the axes would be ideal. An Engineer at a manufacturer I spoke to advised I go with only one screw per axis. I called them to ask about pricing on parts and WOW! they were very proud of their parts. I am considering a design with single screws at every axis but if I see the design benefits from two screws at any point I will go with that option.
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'An Engineer' who has no responsibility for ensuring your design is fit for purpose and certainly won't have considered all the aspects and possibly has no experience of building such a machine. Trust us on this one, there have been enough builds done by people here to prove the point... a Y-axis that wide needs 2 screws on X for machining wood. Yes it might just be possible to be done with 1 but to prevent racking under the sort of cutting loads you'd encounter with machining steel the gantry support bearings would have to be so far apart you'd lose maybe 20% or more of your X travel.


I have to say I'm intrigued by your starting point for this discussion... what is it you do and why did this gentleman with the pressure housings you refered to earlier seem to think you had the capbillity, expertise & skill to re-machine them?