[George484]

Hey guys,

I do not have too much time today to process all the information from the last few posts but I just wanted to give a small update and will reply to the previous posts later on tonight.

I am going to look into using a VMC as a starting point. First of all I need to see if any good used ones are near me, ill keep you updated.

In the meantime I spent a few minutes this morning and whipped up a VERY low detail CAD model. This is a design I am thinking of. Making the whole thing from 10x10 and 4x6 tubing as well as a couple welded plate assemblies to create the larger columns. I would use rack and pinion on the long axis and ball screws on the shorter axis and Z movement. I should mention we have most of this material left over from other jobs, and can get the critical surfaces which the linear rails mount to ground/machined for free by a friend of mine (Other than the very long tubing which the whole Z carriage slides on, not sure how we'd get those flat yet). So in the model I have made the linear rails RED so its easy to understand my approach and which way components will be moving. Basically the whole column slides in the X direction, the tables moves in the Y direction and the Z movement is quite obvious, the spindle would be bolted onto the end of the horizontal column while the column moves up and down.

Please keep in mind I have not included ANY important details, I just wanted some input on the basic idea.