First thing, you'll want to get a hang of what rough sizes / shapes / orientations your machine is going to have. In this case, I'm interested in designing something of an 'everything machine'. I.E it should be useful for a few different processes: 3D Printing, CNC Milling, Flat-Sheet Cutting (a-la the ZUND), and (maybe) eventually Laser Cutting. Normally I would not advise this<sup>3</sup>, but here we are.