@JAZZCNC
Thanks for the great input. I'm going for the belt option. I think I got decent steppers and drivers but I'll do anything that might deduce resonance and I like the possibilities that the belts give e.g. change the ratio if I needed. Not sure with a ballskrew system but I know from first hand experience with rack an pinion that belts also offer little bit of safety margin with strong steppers and would jump teeth or snap when things go horribly wrong.

I've thought long about Blackrat's suggestion not to bolt the sides down but there's much weaker points in the design so I'm pretty sure that not the weakest link. The other thing is I'm really a novice welder so I'm not very confident I'll be able to build the base and gantry sides as one unit to any reasonable tolerances. With the bolt on plan I do limit that factor a little as I have the opportunity to shim an adjust a little like you suggested.

I wish I could hear silyaski machine take an aggressive cut into a piece of alu then maybe I can put my mind at rest about the steel structure resonance :-) Has anybody tried to fill the steel sections of the gantry etc with high density polyurethane foam and would that make any difference with resonance? I'm referring to the two part stuff that can be pored thru relatively small holes and then it foams into a plastic like solid to fill the entire void.