Aluminum flat bar strips for machine bed, yes or no?

[brianhatley]

I bought a 4x8 Cnc router(zenbot) that Ive been slowly upgrading, my next upgrade is the machine bed.

I do quite a bit of aluminum milling, routing. And I use quite a bit of mist coolant, it’s obvious making the wood top swell , I’ve faced it too many times and need to replace it.

I’m looking into a waterproof replacement that is going to be as rigid as I can afford.

I found that if I buy 3”x3/8 aluminum 6061 flat bar and place them side by side down the length of the machine, and in between t tracks.

I worry about the tool cutting through the bottom of wood at a fast feed and contacting the machine bed. Think I’ll be okay?

Will this be more rigid then the .750 Baltic birch top it came with? I’m fairly comfortable with my aluminum milling, so I’m going to try and mill out holes for tapping and mounting too.

Is there another option I should explore ?

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[brianhatley]

I’m about to buy the aluminum, I could really use some input if anybody has the experience or knowledge

[srtstan]

If you cutting mainly aluminum the aluminum bars will be fine, obviously you will have to machine them flat once installed on the machine. If you are going to cut wood with and aluminum sub plate you will have to be very careful about cutting into the wood on your final pass. One option for this would be to place a piece of sacrificial plastic under the wood when you cut it.