[JerryFlyGuy]

Hi Jerry,

I appreciate your comments ...... nothing works like experience! What type of budget should I be considering (including software).

For a 30ft table w/ steel, heat treating and welding [supplying your own labour] I'd think you could build this table for somewhere around $100-125k. [Sounds crazy I know, but when you realize I've spent even more than that on my smaller table [due to not doing it right the first time] your getting a steal of a deal compared to something that is commercially priced]

I tend to agree with you that everything should be done correctly.

When you built your system, what type of table construction did you use?

I would like to thank everyone for their comments, thanks for the help!

Sincerely,
Ed Porter

It's been my experiance that if one takes the time to do things the right way the first time things just go better and take less time and in the end, cost less. Plus you have something which you can believe and have faith in vs something that you think will work.. some of the time and the rest of the time your not sure.

My machine is basically two side rails mounted on the floor [wouldn't do that again] w/ cross members tieing the two side rails and also forming the base for the bed. If I was to do it again I'd make the two side rails and the cross members more integrated so they form one single structure. I'd make sure the entire bed was supported via the side rails and that the entire machine rested on no more than 4 points. Much simpler to level and maintain level.
Also I'd build a dedicated floor [concrete] under the machine so as to limit movement due to having a floor not designed for the machine sitting on it [garage floor is a good example of the incorrect type of floor].

My machine was constructed entirely of steel [welded]. In the near future I'm going to be changing out specific components to cast iron [machined] components to correct some of the poorer choices made during the original design.

Hth

J