Yeah its been awhile..
So I've ended up building a design for all 3 major types.. After much FEA, and a lot of number crunching I've actually decided on the bed mill configuration, mainly because its cheaper...
The base (in the fixed gantry and bed-mill varients) is a 3 foot x 2 foot x 4" slab of granite an everything will be mounted to that, gives me a 450lb base to work with.
On both the fixed and moving gantry mills the square rounded tubes are 4"x3" tube with a wall thickness of 0.375"
The bed-mill column is 8"x6" and 0.5" wall thickness.
I've already purchased some of the parts to build the x-axis for the bed-mill and they should be arriving over the next week or so. I'll then start the process of build the FRANKEN-MILL! ... See this is a rather large project and will probably require sometime to finish, but I'm more likely to finish it if yeah know I have something to use.. With that in mind I'll be combining my Taig Benchtop Mill with x-axis/granite base to create either a Super-Taig or Baby Granite Mill (take your pick?)....
Pictures!:
