Let me say up front that this looks like the best site in two weeks of cruising, that I've seen.
Gotta ask tho....
Never having even been face to face with a cnc device, (other than my plotter)
I fully intend to put a foam cutter together and have been gathering info, and was intrigued by the machine at "8linx".
I would appreciate any comments about the use of 'drawer slides' for the x-axis, with respect to accuracy.
Keep in mind it's a newbie question.
Thanx all
Ray

I think that for a foam cutter, specially if is for not too little pieces the drawer slide (the big ones, more stiffen) can do the job. Stiffness is needed to compensate the force exerted from the piece being machined against the machining tool (or the hot wire). The force exerted by a piece of foam looks no really heavy ;)


Fer

Hello Fer..
Thanx for the response, as I have cut foam wings the old fashioned way, and yes, even eight foot panels didn't require a lot of force, so perhaps the slides might do for items that are not too dense.
It makes sense to have the x, y, z axis as
sturdy, and robust as possible for accuracy and repeatablity, particularly if one wants to do milling or boring.
I feel that I would like to have the more solid support, but at the same time, being new to this technology, my first machine could be a "minimalist" ($$$) effort, but I would still like to know if, say, airfoil accuracy is ok with the slide type.
thanx...geeze, I sure have a lot to learn
Ray