Afternoon,

This will be my first CNC router build and I'm hoping to make it as rigid as possible (within my budget) that's capable of wood, plastic, foam and light aluminum work. Right now I'm trying to figure out the best design for my Y-axis. The first picture (if I uploaded them properly, the first pic is the one that doesn't have the high sides that the linear bearings mount to) seems to be the most common design I've seen. With that design there is a large Delta distance for the gantry sides. If I did it that way I would have to space the bearing blocks far apart to keep it as rigid as possible, this would decrease my workspace. However, if I design it the way I have in picture #2 wouldn't that decrease my Delta distance allowing me to decrease the spacing between my bearing blocks and increasing my usable workspace? With design #2 I realize the router will have a large, unsupported length when it has to extend all the way down to the table top, this will decrease the rigidity. To fix that I figured I could use a removable "box" of some sort that would sit on the table so the router would not have to extend very far when working on smaller projects. These CAD drawing were just to get my point across about the Y-axis they are definitely not a finished design.

Any pros and cons on these two different Y-axis designs would be appreciated!

Thanks