I just bought my first CNC plasma table, and will open up a shop in the Philippines next year. I am interested in fabricating a 3D printer using my CNC plasma table to make the parts, and eventually build a large format 3D printer based on a CNC plasma table with a 36-48 inch Z axis. I will prob use PLA or ABS plastic as the printing material.

3Dprintng is the next CNC tech to come out of this line of tech. I am I treated in seeing some discussion about it with those who are in the CNC milling industry as the software for a CNC mill will also work with a 3D printer.

I have seen video of the Ultimaker design that has a insane 300inch per min print speed. The designers breakthrough in print speed was to lower the mass of the print head.

I would like to replicate these guys work but using a plasma table design with a very long Z axis. What I don't know is how to choose or design a low mass yet very rigid design that will not flex during printing resulting in a low quality object or slow speed operation.

Any suggestions?