[Arashb]

Great list.
The massive alluminum supports I have now are left overs from my father backyard fence. I also scored cheap plastic cutting boards for $3 Canadian at Ikea. Since I ended up using so many large skate wheels, these have been the bulk of the gantry costs.

i haven't routed foam before, but i have cut it on a table-saw, and the foam tends to grab onto the saw blade, and bind up. when the foam is moving past the blade at a good rate, it is fine. but slow down, or stop, and bad things happen. if there is much flex at all, i can envision the router bit orbiting around in the foam. others with more foam routing experience may know better. i just wanted to voice my concerns.

i understand the whole low-budget build. before i just happened to catch the Craigslist advertisement, for my router table, i too was looking to use inexpensive materials. seemed like every design i came up with, i was told to build it stiffer and stronger. i had even setup an experiment, and tried to route a simple sign using a wood router, completely free-hand. the forces of the bit cutting into the material, and wanting to take off on it's own was surprising.

also, on the note of cutting foam. i know when i cut it on a table-saw, the foam "dust" gets absolutely everywhere, and sticks to everything. i would suggest thinking about some sort of dust collection. even a shop-vacuum should work, until it fills up.

not trying to discourage you and your machine, just trying to pass on what little experience i have.

~Travis

Thanks, I found a used bit made for cutting plastic eye glasses and it looks just right for foam... reading from others accounts. The brand is Gerber Optical.


I also decided to beef up my supports and now have a mini cnc machine to make some new linear rail too.

There are special burrs for cutting foam. Dust will be a huge problem. Peter

Im thinking of running the machine in my vans extension pull out, have it enclosed and if I cant vaccum the dust properly, just wash it off (being careful of electronics) to filter into a large bucket. Lots of toxic flame retardants and such in foam, will have to discard it properly.