General advice on height of components

[No1Daemon]

Hi everyone

I am just after some general advice on height and width of components for my cnc build.

Is there a sticky or post somewhere giving ideal heights of the y axis supports etc?

I realise the forces of your spindle etc will alter the load put on the components but I was hoping to find something fairly generic for now.

I will be using a dremel tool for my cnc until I really get into it and then upgrading to something like a trim router or similar.

Currently I have an x axis that is 37 inches long and 27 inches wide and my z axis is 6 inches total height and has a 5 inch travel.
I have to make a mount for my tool for the front of the z axis so there is room for some movement in the design of that but with those figures how can I work out the total height of the y axis?

Would I want to mount the z axis so the tool is 5 inches above the bed?

Thanks for any and all advice.
Steve

[LazyMan]

There really is no generic setup. When you say your z axis is 6 inches total height do you mean that you have 6 inch gantry clearance? In general, your z axis travel should be at least equal to or greater than you gantry clearance unless you have a specific need to work on tall pieces but do not need the full travel.

I would say 4-6 inch gantry clearance height is ideal for most applications. The only way to decide is to figure out what you need to cut first. My first machine has 8 inch gantry clearance and I have never needed more than 3.5."

[No1Daemon]

Hi
Thanks for the reply.
I meant that the z axis slide assembly is 6 inches from the bottom to the top excluding the motor and that the movement of the plate inside the slide assembly is 5 inches.

What do you mean when you refer to gantry clearance?
Is that from the bottom of the tool tip to the bed of the x axis table?

I think I probably wont need more than 3-4 inches of travel for the work I will be doing. Mostly pcb isolation routing and I would also like to cnc some custom shapes in pcb enclosures etc which would need about 4 1/2 inches clearance.

[LazyMan]

Gantry clearance is the distance from the bottom of the Y axis plate to the table assuming that the y axis plate is lower than the "bridge"

[No1Daemon]

Okay. Thats clear enough then thank you.

I think I will be able to work it out from there.
I just wasn't sure if the 'bridge' or tool mount was mounted lower than the bottom of the y plate for balance reasons etc.