ah great at least someone has found it useful
- any pics of the boards you've made - did you do edge grain or end grain?
I'd use some 'brush strip' instead of the rubber I used that is cut into strips, its all I had at the time.
Maybe think about securing some 80 grit sandpaper to the bed to stop the piece sliding about - you'll still need something to secure it, at the moment, I have a piece of wood lower than the material im planning at the bottom of the table, then another piece touching it at a right angle, going up the table, so I can place the piece in the bottom corner - I then just use some small nails to attach other pieces as I need them, and they get removed - the other pieces stay on the board,
I think id run the 'gantry' bit on the outside of the walls of the jig/sled bed - that way, you could then just use wedges of timber on the inside to secure the work piece touching the side walls, and they wouldn't foul the gantry.
Id also make the hole where the router bit goes just a little bigger than the biggest bit you will use, could even put some brush strip in the hole - all an aim to keep the dust contained, and if you have a hoover/extractor connected to the router, most will go up there - when I had nothing (as it was when first built) it was terribly messy - that bit I had is 50mm, and brilliant, but its not cheap at about £45 - its probably lasted me 6 months of hobby use, and then I needed to get it sharpened which cost me £9
the post I did could be slimmed down, I went a bit OTT adding borders and stuff, that do look nice - but you can do this in a couple of stages, get the strips glued up and planed, then crosscut them, and arrange in a pattern and glue this back up. Once you get into it, your imagination then starts to think of other patterns and ways to do it. Good fun though, especially when its all done and sanded, and you apply the finish and all the colours come alive.
