Over the last year I have been collecting parts for a CNC Router. Initially I was going to build a Joes 4x4 Hybrid but then things started to evolve. I have enough room in my workshop for a 4x8 and it sure would come in handy to have the large cutting size every now and then ;-)
So I started to adapt the Hybrid to a 4x8 and incorporate rack and pinion drive on the X and Y axis, ball screw on the Z. My first pass was to use MDF as per Joes Hybrid but then of course 8020 and aluminium plate would be nice, a bit stiffer and less prone to damage. So the design evolved and evolved and now I'm starting to be quite happy with the result.
As I don't have any CNC capabilities I needed a design which could use MDF parts as initial structural members to get the router up and going before CNC machining the aluminium plates, So a two step build, firstly a combination of 8020 and MDF and then 8020 and Aluminium. I hope.
The orange X carriage was my initial MDF design.