Hello and welcome. I live about 20miles east of Plymouth, and currently using a "quick build" router made of MDF. If you have a couple of hours to spare, I could list just a few of the deficiencies of MDF as a structural material! Currently designing the Mk2 which will also be around 1200x600 cutting area but this time of steel. I don't have the experience of a number of the contributors to this forum but I do have a background in electronics, computing and model engineering (and I can claim to have built both a working CNC router and a 3D printer) and happy to compare notes some time. You aren't a welder, by any chance? Bit of a skills gap that I need to fill for my next machine!