What about a counterweight to offset the spindle weight on the z axis??

What about a counterweight to offset the spindle weight on the z axis?? that way we could really speed up z and its acceleration. I do a lot of 3D and the Z axis really slows it down compared to what the x and y’s can do. Just a late night thought.

A constant spring would also do the trick with out changing the harmonics to much. Size the spring to equal the spindle. Would not stress the x stepper much either.

@Aaron_Troxel You beat me to it. A spring has a lot of advantages over a counter weight.

If you want to read yoo on a constant force spring here is a quick primer I found.
https://www.engineersedge.com/spring_material/constant-force-spring.htm

Even better. A spring would be much easier and better without the extra weight. Thank you gentlemen. I will give it a read.

Winding a cone shaped spring is doable. If we take the x axis and use it to spin a dowel we can cut a cone to wind on starting from a flat drawing.

constant air spring FTW. used in best of breed desktop mills and VMCs to compensate for their heavy head

https://www.acecontrols.com/us/products/motion-control/industrial-gas-springs-push-type/gs-8-to-gs-70.html