Hello,
I've been lurking about these forums for some time, I have seen a lot of designs but I have trouble telling which is the 'best'. I think that anyone could agree that the best is whatever is cheapest while not throwing away the desired effect.
I really liked what I saw when I looked at designs with V rails, but I always come back to asking myself if there is any reason not to go with angle beams either on it's edge or flat and using several bearings for motion.
I work with a lot of sheet aluminum, all of the cuts I've made have been with wood working tools. I have gotten to a point where I feel it would be stupid not to make a CNC plasma table. However, I have a small budget. Luckily, I have plenty of will and a little bit of skill. I can TIG weld just fine, I can operate a drill press, a miter saw, circular saw and I plan to get a plasma cutter for this operation in the new future. Unfortunately, with my small budget I am stuck with getting something made by slaves, my budget is probably around 1500 which pretty well has to include the plasma cutter.
I am going with an xy design and a manual z. I got that idea from some forum thread I found googling about, I think it's genius considering there is no need for depth variation for what I do, I guess that idea alone should shave off a hundred or two.
I have some great local sources around me for steels and aluminum. I've imagined that basically the entire table can be made out of angle, sheet, and bar steel. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
https://www.midweststeelsupply.com/store/ These guys are my primary source of materials, there are a few others in my area (St. paul and Minneapolis Minnesota) that I may compare prices to but I buy from these guys most of the time.