I'm sure you're far from the only one. One of the downsides to working at the asylum with people who are already familiar with CNC technology is that I forget where the line between common and specialized knowledge is. I'll probably do a whole post about CNC terminology later, but for now I'll restrain myself and just answer your question (apologies to any engineers if I don't get these quite right): A gantry is a piece of structure that can move back and forth in a single direction. In my 4'x8' machine, I actually have three gantries: A big one that spans the width of the table and can travel up and down it's length, a second smaller one mounted to the first that can travel along the width of the table, and a third mounted to the second that travels vertically. Since almost every mechanical part of the CNC machine is mounted on the first gantry, I often think of the parts of the machine that aren't the table as "the gantry." There are some good pictures of the machine I'm building here that might help.
Sounds like you'll have this kicking faster than the one you built in Cincinnati. You have a fabulous learning curve. If you can, please post pictures of your own work.
Actually, if you read my blog there are pictures there. I have it setup so that my blog will post to LJ when I update it, but the pictures don't transfer.
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A gantry is a piece of structure that can move back and forth in a single direction. In my 4'x8' machine, I actually have three gantries: A big one that spans the width of the table and can travel up and down it's length, a second smaller one mounted to the first that can travel along the width of the table, and a third mounted to the second that travels vertically. Since almost every mechanical part of the CNC machine is mounted on the first gantry, I often think of the parts of the machine that aren't the table as "the gantry." There are some good pictures of the machine I'm building here that might help.
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