I’m essentially turning my flat bed router into a “pod and rail” machine by cutting 12, 5" wide “tracks” across the width of my supplemental deck then placing 5" x 5" Vac pods in the tracks that can be adjusted across X.
I’m not happy with the vac loss with my current configuration and would like to replace the actual grid deck with another in the design above. The question is - what’s the best (OEM) deck material and where can I get a 4 x 8 or 5 x 10 sheet of this stuff? I"m thinking super hard rubber or some sort of closed cell plastic/vinly. My primary machine uses hard rubber and my other machine has a hard plastic deck. The cellular PVC I used for the supplemental deck doesn’t get it. It must be open cell because with all ports plugged on my prime deck I get 23.5 but when I apply the PVC deck and plug it I get 17.5, even after painting it.
I bought a 4x8 sheet of black smooth 3/4" HDPE for my 48x48 Avid CNC from a local plastics place. It wasn’t cheep almost $500.00. I figured at some point I’ll need the second half. I looked online and half a sheet cost almost as much a a full one. It’s basically extra thick cutting board material. I was lucky in that they had had a big order from a local company and had a few leftover sheets. I don’t think it’s something that they normally stocked. Another place wanted to charge me shipping, I didn’t even ask how much. I think it’s made in larger sizes but that would be even harder to find. It comes in smooth or pebbled surface. I think either would as you can surface it. Good luck, I hope that helped.
Thanks for the feedback. It’s been a while and I didn’t check back before commencing the project. I ended up buying three 4x8 x 1" sheets of pure PVC and it’s working fine. They were about $900 each. I don’t’ know if it’s common but I had to take off at least .01 and probably more like .02 or .03 to get it flat. But, other than that I like it.