drxlcarfreak published a new build:

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The dual gantry isn't something I would do initially, or probably at all. I just wanted The provisions for it in case I wanted more production out of The same footprint. The added 10" is a benefit, but the main reason I thought to do is to increase overall cutting speed. The average I have seen on this site is 50ipm, two gantries would effectively double the speed. Granted it wouldn't be fully double, since the way I see it I would break the code into 3 parts. 2 where each machine can do it's own thing and not worry about the other, and a 3rd to have one do the little interference strip in the middle. Most of the pieces I envision doing are 24x24 anyways, so I could also run 2 pieces at once with no worries.

My main concern right now it the structure of it being sound enough to cut at full depth of 6/6.5".

 

I actually had a thought recently while designing the 2x4 setup, to just bite the bullet and build a 1500x1500 machine. I put together a model to mimic the same allowable deflection gantry as the 750mm C-beam Xlarge. I think it was somewhere in the range of 0.028mm vertically and 0.14mm horizontally with a 10kg load. Using just MOI and assuming the pieces are rigidly bolted together this beam is right there, with 0.03mm vertically and 0.11mm horizontally.





It's a pretty overkill beam, but in reality, the overall footprint is almost the same as the C beam plus the support.

Looking quickly through the numbers, it looks like this will be about a $250 premium to double the size of my cutting area. I am trying to decide to bite to bullet and try and find room for it in my garage, or stick with a more run of the mill machine that has been tried and true. Any input is welcome!

 

Lol, well I am a structural engineer by education, so my expertise is in making sure that things don't move ever!

Not so good at the things moving part.