I am pondering my Altmill installation location and am wondering - how much of a PITA is it to deal with things when you only have access on one side and the front (or from the front only). If you have an Altmill, how much space do you leave for yourself on the left and right sides of the mill? The back will be against a wall and I have enough room in front of the mill.
How often do you run into a situation where setup/clamping etc etc requires you to access the mill from the sides? I anticipate 95% of my jobs to be 3 ft or less deep and I can access that while standing at the front of the machine. I am concerned about the very back.
Bump - surly there must be someone out there using an Altmill that can tell me how often they need to access things from one or both sides of their Altmill …
Not having an altmill but a longmill on a oversized table. I rarely need to be on the side but if I need to I can roll the table off the wall and create room for me to access pretty much anywhere. (I find myself climbing on top of the table rather than moving it, but if needed…)
Putting some casters under your machine will come in handy one day, why not implement those and have a machine that can be moved around in one piece. You never know what the future will bring, leaving you wishing you had.
Good points! Thank you …
PS.: Mill arrives on Tuesday 
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Exciting times ahead. I hope your assembly will be a smooth one and you’ll be milling in no time.
Please follow up with a picture of your final setup. I am super curious - read jalous-
@Jens I don’t have an AltMill either, but I made sure that I could roll my Long Mill table away from the adjoining walls so that I could tile longer projects. More importantly is the ability to get at all sides of the Mill to conduct routine maintenance. I don’t see why that would be different with the AltMill. I appreciate that it does not have v-wheels and lead screws, but I must assume that it requires some routine maintenance that requires access to all of its sides.
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Gwilki, the mill will be on wheels for exactly the reasons you mention but I was concerned about access on a daily basis during jobs. Moving the mill for every job would be a PITA and if that was a requirement I would want to do a major re-org of the shop before the mill shows up.
I think my mind is more at ease now with both your and Spamming_Eddie’s feedback.
@Jens Your view matches mine. I don’t move mine for my usual jobs. When I tile, I need to move it away from the back wall. For maintenance, I move it away from the back wall and a wall on its right side. I know that some will argue that moving this machines introduces racking and other issues. I don’t argue that. I have had no accuracy issues resulting from doing it my way. YMMV.
Have fun with your AltMill. I’m jealous. 
I have a long mill and now Altmill, i dont recall ever having to work from the side on my long mill. I havent had to on My Altmill yet wither, but it does have a much bigger foot print. Mines in the corner of my shop and i can really on access it from two sides. Long story short hasn’t been an issue for my going on 4 years.
That’s great to hear - thanks! I don’t think this would be an issue with a Longmil but it’s great to hear that you don’t think this will be an issue with the Altmill either.
I don’t mind moving the mill for servicing as that will likely only happen two or three times a year.
Don’t have an altmill yet but coming from a 48x48 x carve that’s in a full enclosure I only had access to the front and it worked well…
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Like all the time, you need to be able to walk all the way around the machine. I use all 4 sides all the time.
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@lcmetalworx I’m with you, Larry. I don’t see how anyone can clamp down a 48" piece of material if the back and sides of the table are not accessible. I can’t get to the back of my 30 x 30 LM from the front of the table.
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Well crap on a popsicle stick. I thought I had it all straight in my mind and that I was worried for nothing re the operator clearance. Now, with two ‘you need clearance on all 4 sides’ votes, I am back to square one.
At this point, since most of my new mill is assembled, I am going with ‘I will find out the hard way’.
I might have to remove my radial arm saw to make more room. Time will tell.
Thanks everybody for your thoughts.