Hello again! You all thought I'd forgotten about you but it is very far from being the case! Life is throwing a lot of curveballs at the moment but I still hope to have my first machine finished before Jonathan graduates :)

Anyway, at the risk of starting another one of the mass/rigidity/vibration arguments, I have a quick question about the machine and the worktop that it will sit on.

Is it better for the machine to just sit on the surface, or be bolted down to the surface, or sit over the surface on small feet?

I understood that the small feet work as a way of reducing the amount of vibration passing into the worktop. If the worktop itself is quite hefty (and is using smaller feet to isolate it from the floor) would it be able to work as a "vibration sink"? Would this make it better to let the machine rest on the surface, or would physically bolting it to the surface be any better?

I also appreciate that dealing with vibration in the design and use of the machine is best, but every little helps. For various reasons I have to build the enclosure first so I need to know if boltholes in the worktop will be necessary.

Also, I seem to recall a few years ago coming across someone using a levelling compound in their project to try and get a perfectly flat and level surface, though it might have been specifically for the surface where the rails would be mounted. Has anyone any experience with using a pourable levelling compund that would be suitable for the worktop?