I pretty much followed the instructions until I got done with the gantry. Then based on my work space and what I wanted to accomplish tonight, I decided to assemble just about everything else on the gantry. This seemed to work very well. There were a few steps when assembling the Z Axis that I’m sure were much easier, just because I had less machine to move around. I stopped before putting the spindle in, but I have the rest of the Z done, including the spindle holder. This may end up biting me in the but later, but for now it worked out quite well. I still have a lot to work on, but I’m happy with how it is coming together.
I had made a couple of purchases earlier in the day that really worked well. One was a cheep set of metric T handle hex wrenches, in most of the sizes we use, and the other was a 5mm tap. The T handles are much easier to use most of the time, but you still have a few times you need to use the angled allen wrenches, but not nearly as often. And I know others have done it as well, but tapping the maker slide made putting the gantry and Z slide so easy, and made me feel better about how it was being done.