I purchased a cncrouterparts mechanical kit without extrusion in 2012, and then sourced all the long metal pieces in Canada for cheaper shipping. This was originally a 4x4 but eventually I bought more extrusion and ended up with a 4x8 table. Fast forward a few years and lasers started to become a thing for me. I actually built a 90w laser with a 24x48 cut area ontop of the router bed. When I purchased a omtech 2440 100w laser, I disassembled the 4x8 completely.. After seeing a Ultimate Bee 1500x1500 kit, I purchased and assembled that ontop of my cnc plasma table which I never planned on using again, but I find the UB to be ridiculously unrigid. go figure.
Anyways, my plan now is to cut down my 110" long extrusion to a 4x4 size and install linear rail using as many of the old parts as I possibly can. I’ve designed some plates for the Y/A rails that will sit ontop of the rail blocks, the old aluminum blocks with bearings will be attached to the rail blocks and the support uprights. this will add about 1.25" to the height which is ok as I had added 1.5" spacers for increased z height anyway.. X axis will be done similar although I will just create a new Z interface plate instead and add the bearing block so I can attach my motor plates.
Anyone else ever done this? any thoughts or pitfalls I should try to avoid?