So I am thinking of making my cutting footprint around 40" by 28" so I can do raised panel cabinet doors. In addition I would like to do inlay so I need precision too. (I don’t need much z height) I figured that using conduit on the outside would be fine since I can use mid supports. Then I could switch to stainless steel for the center spans were I cannot add extra supports. Has anyone done a “hybrid” design like this? I haven’t started out yet on this I am trying to get my bearings.
Would probably work out alright, as long as you can find the right diameter tubes. I think conduit is measured by the inside diameter, and stainless by the outside.
If you are routing wood, I don’t think you need to worry about all that. Midspan support are nice probably not necessary.
Hybrid won’t really work the corners and the center rail offsets match. If you do try it, match corner spacers to the center rails and the other corner pieces to the outer rails.
Inlay is typically small intricate cuts, no problem. the largest error you will get would be in the z direction and I doubt you could even measure that and for an inlay it is not a big deal because your insert is typically getting sanded flush anyway.
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Thanks that sounds good. I think then my plan will probably be to go with 23.5mm OD conduit and see if it is working out for me, then if I am having issues, look into seeing if I can make the hybrid work, once I know what I am working with, or just completely switch to stainless.
You are completely right about the z direction and sanding the inlay away afterwards, that shouldn’t matter. Thanks!
We are all learning here. I’m not sure how far the machine can be pushed, and how the size affects accuracy. I really need to find a way to test the accuracy. For wood though I think you will be good, use a roughing and finishing pass and I feel you will still have very accurate cuts.
This is a great project and I really appreciate all your work. I am looking forward to getting building on the machine.
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