Re: Z height and thoughts on spacer boxes etc
On my machine I designed the gantry to be adjustable in height. The Z travel remains the same, but the entire gantry can move. The gantry attaches via a piece of angle to an 8020 extrusion vertical support, so can adjust steplessly to wherever I want it.
Attachment 387508
Of course this leads to the issue of maintaining the gantry parallel to the X axis. When I adjust the gantry (or initially positioned it) I used a matched set of spacers (1-2-3 blocks) to directly set spacing from X axis to Y axis guide rails. This ensures they are parallel
Attachment 387512
Attachment 387510
Using combinations of spacers such as these blocks and parallels I can achieve whatever gantry height I need, although 5 inches from lowest point on gantry to spoilboard has generally been where I leave it. I have 7 inches of Z travel.
Tubular latex pressure vessel configuration engineer