Mounting HB in 80/20 frame

I am learning a LOT about CNC machines playing with my HB, so far using only the 1/4" up-cut bit that came with the machine, and some scraps of plywood. Early lessons include the need to (1) really secure the materials and (2) the screw-like properties of a spiral up-cut bit. The most used feature on the machine so far is the big red kill button...

Many of the things I want to make are smaller than 6" by 8" so I decided to make a "frame" to mount the HB onto that would (should?) let me to load blanks of 8" by 8" material without needing to move the machine itself. I have a ton of 80/20 laying around the shop so I used it for the framework. Eventually I plan to wall mount the frame, for now I am just clamping it to my Festool MFT and letting it hang over the edge.

This is the basic frame, 1-1/2" extrusion:



I added some rough tabs to hold the HB in place:



There is a bottom of 3/4" plywood and a spoilboard (also 3/4") slides in on top of it, then is fastened from below with bolts, soon to be replaced by knobs:



The basic idea is the HB sits on the frame, I can remove the spoilboard and screw an 8X8 blank to it, slide it in and tighten the knobs, run the machine. Remove the spoilboard, reload, repeat as needed. This way I can stock up on 8X8 blanks whenever I have any scrap around.

I will get a bit of video or upload some better photos next time I am in the shop. If this works as expected I will upgrade the tabs when I graduate to milling aluminum.

Comments or thoughts welcome.

RMW



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2013 08:36PM by Richard Warren.

Having trouble with images, trying to use files from DropBox but they are not sized properly. Can anyone recommend how to resolve this?

Thanks,

RMW

You can't seem to resize the images here, but they could be downloaded and put into a photo album so they could be viewable. Do you want us to do that?