Anyone thought of this?

[Jeff]

Has anyone thought of shortening the distance of travel on the X and Y axis from what we are used to. Seems to me this would cut of some bucks, at least the way I see it, it would. Less of chain or lead screw you would have to buy. Or would it be to much stress on the gantry. Here is what I am talking about. Look at the plasma cnc in the first picture.
Jeff

[Awesomeness]

What do you mean by "shortening the distance of travel"? Are you just talking about making a smaller machine?

I like some of the pictures and ideas in that gallery. It looks like someone has even gone a similar way to Beermkr's linear bearings [that we're probably going to end up using].

This is what they showed...

[Jeff]

I will try to explain what I mean, so bear with me. In the first picture of the plasma cutter they shortened the Y travel and made the X travel longer. Seems to me this would cut down on linear travel material. The way I see it, (in my head ) you have 3 linear tracks that on a table such as mine, blactoe 2 x 4 , are 3 pieces, 1 piece 2', 2 pieces4'. If you build it like the picture you would have 2 pieces 2', and 1 piece 4'. so you would save 2'to build it like this........or would it be worth the effort for what you save. Guess all you really save is 2', either angle or chain.Then you have to spend more for the extra long gantry.............AWWWW just forget it. Now my head hurts. I read on the site that the only reason this was built that way was to be able to push it up to a wall and load from the side.

Jeff

[Awesomeness]

I see where you're going with it now. Essentially, build a 4'x2' machine instead of a 2'x4' one. It shuffles some materials around, and one way may come out cheaper than the other.

It's definitely something worth keeping in mind.

[rekoburners]

Hi i have been spending some brain time on this aproach and the only disadvantage i can see is it must be driven from both sides (no single centre lead screw as in the book). On the plus side a strong well designed gantry to give a say 4foot cut would suit most builders. You could start with a short bed design and builders could incresse this at the start of the build or change the size at a later date for little expence and efort!

[David Kirtley]

One advantage I see of building a 4x2 rather than a 2x4 is you don't have that much to convert if you want to go to 4x4 or 4x8 at a later date.

If it is not slated for expansion, you just end up with a longer and heavier gantry.

[Awesomeness]

That's a good point.