parts just for wood and plastic

[reefy86]

is a steel bed frame still a must if you are just going down the wood and acrylic route? im thinking of just doing a 4x4 for now rather then a 8x4 until more funds come in for a bigger workshop. would be cutting some fine detail in wood so i am thinking steel maybe a must but just for fund issues at the moment i would prefer to do it as cheap as possible like £1500-£2000. What do you think i should get at a minimum guy's?

cheers

[Nr1madman]

A lot of people are more than satisfied with frames made of aluminium extrusion.

But this is probably more expensive than steel;)

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[reefy86]

do aluminium extrusions still require machining though? if not then i suppose the extra cost is worth it to save a job

[Nr1madman]

It all depends on what kind of accuracy you are aiming for.
Some people think/say that rails mounted directly on extrusion is a sure failure.
For some it's just fine and easier to mount with t-nuts instead of drilling and tapping.
If you are looking at something like +-0.1mm in wood then it would probably suffice!

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[paulus.v]

In my experience, cutting acrylic needs a stiff router. I was cutting 20mm extruded acrylic in 5mm passes with a 6mm endmill and my 280kg table was vibrating a lot... :) If you are going to cut in 0.5mm passes there will be no problem, only time wasted.

The steel route is cheaper, faster and sturdier than aluminium if you are cutting, welding, drilling, tapping by yourself and of course epoxy levellling the rail beds.