One ring to rule them all?

[JAZZCNC]

To be clear I was thinking the frame would be 100x100x5 and the gantry 200x100x8 but only because those where readily available sizes. If I have to special order some bigger then so be it.

To be honest I would avoid any box section for stiff areas of the machine like Gantry, Z axis etc and look more towards plate and weldment setup then have the structure machined flat and true. This is the only way you can control strength and resonance properly.

This can and will get expensive fast.!! . . . After all There is a reason why the Big boys toys cost so much money.!!

It's very easy to get carried away at this design phase and create a monster CNC but it's all different thing when the fat lady sings and reality hits you in the balls.! The reality of costs alone sting like a B@~~rd for Strong/heavy high quality machine and thats without getting Silly with 5 axis heads etc so to quote Ali-G try to "Keep it Real" otherwise your doomed to dissapointment from the start.