I'm guessing that the plates are printed with ABS. I'm interested to see if ABS is strong enough and won't flex under the stresses of milling.

You do have a large 3D printer, the parts look great so far. Please keep us updated.

 

you could do the double plate version, it will be stronger

 

They way the printer lays down plastic you can decide how thick you want the outer edge, how dense you want the inside and how many solid layers on top and bottom. The ones I designed were layed down with .35mm layer height with 4 layers of solid material on top and bottom. .35x4=1.4mm of solid PLA (plastic)...I also used 5 outer loops on everything...so all holes and shapes have .35x5=1.75mm this walls. In the areas between the solid and top layers we use infill...this can be defined by density. I used 50% infill. This basicly mean these areas have fill that is only 50% solid. This is a much heavier duty print than what I normally would do for mostly everything I make. Also, when the machine lays down layers they are 90 degrees of each other...so it is basicly the same idea as plywood. Hope that helps give people a better idea...if I didn't describe something correctly please feel free to correct me. Also the plates are 8mm thick.

 

Chris did you check the flex in the plates? You can clamp one on the edge of a table and start hanging weights on it, while measuring the deflection with a straight edge. I guess it will give you a good indication of what to expect. I just printed 2 router mounts in ABS for a Makita trimmer router, they seem to be very solid.

I looked into the smoothie board and found that the Amps are too low for nema 23 steppers. See Mark's OX build discussion page 46 for more about that.

 

I am also interested in the flex of the plates. What thickness are you printing these at? Also, how many hours did it take?