My Homemade Mdf-Carbon Router design

[DeltaMan]

Hello Gentlemen .
This is my first post here . I'm very impressed to find so many infos in here . I was born and I live in Greece .
I started an attempt to build a cnc router . Since I don't have much access to aluminium or people who would help me , I decided to go with Sandwich of 4 mm mdf and Carbon in order to have something more 'humidity free' than plain wood .
It is made with the Vacuum Bagging method .
Firstly I'll post some pics of the method I used for the slides (is this the name?) I made ...

[DeltaMan]

OK .
I see that this is working so I continue ...
Now some pics of the sandwiches I used .

[DeltaMan]

Here are some pictures of the nearly finished Z-axis section which has a 110 mm movement ...
So , this is my first here so please write your comments or any thoughts for my work . I wouldn't like to do something wrong and not knowing about it !
Thanks in advance .

DM

[heyarnold]

Very elegant looking design!
What kind of glue did you use to laminate the carbon fiber to the mdf?
How thick is that carbon fiber?
Does the lamination seem to be very strong, even though it is so thin? I ask because I see in your design that bed is long and unsupported.

I really do like what you have done so far! Good Work!

[DeltaMan]

Hey heyarnold !
Thank you for replying !
The Primary sandwich was done with :

* Two layers of 80 gramms/sq.meter Unidirectional carbon Rovings
* One sheet of 4 mm mdf after that and
* Two layers of the same carbon again .

Everything is glued together using 24-hour Epoxy Resin inside the Vacuum Bag .

When that sandwich was dry , it was cut in half and stuck again back by back with the same method of Resin and Vacuum !
Then , a piece was sandwiched again to give that 4-layer piece you see !

Yes , it IS Really Stiff !

[thkoutsidthebox]

Looks nice, keep it coming!

[Halfnutz]

Very cool, very interesting, keep going....

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Originally Posted by DeltaMan Yes , it IS Really Stiff !

Hi DM,

I am very interested in your sandwich approach; when you say very stiff could you compare how stiff to another material, say aluminium?

John

[Madclicker]

Very ingenious. I'm ready to try something like this with MDF and phenolic laminate. Maybe even masonite and laminate.

[txcowdog]

Incredible! Another great idea for the hobby router. I just need to find a source for the carbon fiber so I can try this myself. Keep the pictures and updates coming.

[wildcat]

Here is a source for carbon fiber - it's pricey...

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/cm/carbonfiber.html

[higgrobot]

I think it's wonderful what is being done here and well done for actually doing it. However, I'm wondering what advantages a Carbon fibre x MDF combination would have over MDF and some paint? I know it sounds great but does it make the structure stiffer or stronger in a way that could justify the cost?