I finally had chance to drill the array of M8 holes for clamping in my router bed. Here's the result:

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I used a carbide drill since the spindle speed required for a 6.8mm HSS drill is too low for the spindle to have enough torque to cut efficiently, if at all. I ran the drill at 9500rpm and 840mm/min with flood coolant, which according to the manufacturer's recommendations is quite conservative, but still plenty fast enough. I didn't see any point pushing it harder as that would only increase wear on the spindle bearings.

Here's a video showing the process. Possibly the most repetitive video I've uploaded to youtube so far...


The Z-axis motor, not surprisingly, got pretty toasty but other than that it went well. I had to move the bed out to reach the whole length, so it's currently 360mm from the normal position. Just need to make the router cut a drain in it, then I'll put it back.