newbie need advice on cnc machine to purchase? routoutcnc machines any good?

[Jonathan]

Belt drive is okay so long as the belt is spring tensioned and has a big driving pulley to get lots of teeth engaged.

A HTD belt requires 6 teeth to be engaged for the strength of the teeth at the pulley to exceed that of the belt itself.

A vacuum table isn't exactly hard to make if you have enough clearance in the Z. OTOH you could hold the workpiece down by hand as it comes to cuts end.

I think I'll make one sometime. Some people on this forum will complain if they see you holding the workpiece down by hand :naughty:

Pukka dust extractors are inexpensive and hold a lot more than Henry, or was Henry for the hold down?

I tried a henry for dust extraction. It was pathetic - didn't suck enough. Also remember the pressure from normal vacuum cleaners gets worse as the bag fills up so ideally you want a cyclone.

A sacrificial sheet of MDF below is kind of vital, much easier to cut through than cut perfect.

Agreed - that's what I do. If you start off with an 18mm sacrificial sheet it'll last you for a long time. Only need to go say 0.5mm into the sheet each time, then you can use the router to skim it to get it nice and flat several times when necessary.

I also think you should look into making it yourself. You will definitely save a lot of money - it helps by getting the linear bearings Robin mentioned from eBay internationally. I'd happily make you one for less than their price :heehee: