First build - Mid-scale gantry router design

[Ellis]

Thanks all for your responses.

@Clive: I had heard about Chai, but found his prices don't seem to compare particularly greatly to other sellers. I realise of course that any of these vendors could be shipping sub-par kit. Is there a reason particularly why Chai is popular?

@Geoffrey: exactly that had crossed my mind as I can quite see a fixed gantry would potentially be much more rigid than a "live" one. I dismissed it because the footprint of the machine to work area ratio is so much greater with a moving gantry. However it's more important to me that I can hold tolerances reliably, so that style of machine is certainly a potential. Thanks for the thought.

@routercnc: great to hear you have experience with almost exactly my proposed setup! After finding the seller on aliexpress I linked above, who appears to offer every mechanical part for reasonable prices, I think I may push for all-Hiwin rails.

I had always pictured using dual ballscrews driven by a central stepper and belts. It feels right from a mechanical standpoint and it's good to know it's popular. I will be making the Z travel minimal for the reasons you stated. 150mm sounds about right to me.

Thank you for bringing up the raised X rails. That makes absolute sense. I won't even bother with the design I have currently which has the rails actually below the bed height. Cheers!

Thanks again all,
Ellis