since there has been some collective gathering of the minds on the topic i figured i would share some of my work to date. going into this build I was geared around plasma cutting but i figured why just settle for one process and am in the process of exploring other processes for use on the same table. if possible i would like to be able to have a light duty gantry mill , wood router and plasma with a removable water table for that process but Plasma will be last on the list even though i started with that intention. a light duty gantry mill and wood router will come first and the milling will be my focus of those two.

first off i will not be using a router for the milling. they simply don't have the low end speeds needed for material other than aluminum. the idea is to have a different head to mounted to the table for the process needed. the table is 5' x 10' with about 50" x 100" of travel and around 8 or 9 " on the Z axis.

this i s a project for my home shop and a back up retirement plan i guess for reason for building this machine. i'm not in a hurry and this build has been going on since July of this year.

i have seen first hand how welding can twist a structure and have had to make a few straight by machining them over the years on big boring mills since this is my trade for about 30 years now. so going into my build i knew i wanted to avoid welding for this reason. another reason for bolting this together was the lack of a crane or any other way to move a complete table around by myself. as for equipment i am limited to a Bridgeport mill and a very small lathe at home. So when it comes to designs a lot of it has to do with what you have to work with and working around your limitations.Attachment 433024

once i finish the table top the table should weigh in around 1,300 lbs so far and the gantry is around 200 lbs after seeing the table come together i could very well do an Epoxy granite there for added vibration dampening and will probably do a t slot top over that probably 1" thick and do some kind of vacuum pod system for it as well.