Low budget plasma setup, what do I need?

Is rack module with tighter pitch better? I was a bit worried that it will be easier to clog dirt so I opted for Module 2.

Also 12 teeth M2 gives me 25mm with 3:1

And a smoother ride with 24 teeth and 6:1 reduction.

I don't really have any experience to help here. What I used worked. I think I'd use the 24 tooth pinions. I went with 5:1 reduction and NEMA34's on my gantry but that was only for convenience as I purchased 5:1 timing belt drive reduction gears with pinion drive at a price that I could barely purchase the parts I used for the X axis reduction.. I bought the smallest NEMA34's I could to stay within power limits. Nema 23's would have been fine I think.

It might depend a bit on what timing pulleys you can get. I know the small pulleys (and gears no doubt) are hard to mount as if you have to bore them out to suit a shaft, there is no meat there. I bought some so I could get 5:1 or so out of my existing timing pulleys but they would not work for my motor shafts.

Low budget 6:1
www.thingiverse.com/thing:1934991/files

Printed in PETG or ABS

Crazy or ??

If.... I would print all but outgoing shaft/plate but as you say the backlash might be a bit too much.

Tempted to try though

Backlash on a Plasma can be up to 0,4mm no problem on that
many are going with timingbelt long distance there you see speed but also backlash

I have no personal experience with long timingbelt so then the 6:1 gear reduction might work but outgoing parts must be better than printed parts = outgoing shaft needs to be with bearing support.

I am tempted to print the rack and pinion just for kicks