# CNC router pressure foot



## forhire (Jan 2, 2019)

I've been thinking about building a pressure foot for ages. Never could find the time and I wasn't about to buy one. So just before Christmas I picked up some hardware set out to design on based on the commercial version found here: https://store.shopbottools.com/products/cnc-pressure-foot 

Today I decided to give it a try on some parts I needed to cut out. Worked absolutely fantastic. This router has never cut so quite! Especially in the +X direction where it would often wine a bit.

I wanted the foot to look factory... I may have over done it this time. 

Most of the parts were made on the cnc mill as opposed to the router. I fixtured most of the parts using painters tape and super glue. The advantage of the mill is being able to rigid tap screw holes when needed. I don't totally trust the blue tape but in this case I had to really pry to get the aluminum foot free so my confidence is growing even with flood coolant. The main aluminum foot was tumbled and then anodized. I still need to take it apart and paint the steel bracket. For the test parts on the router today I held the sheet down with three pieces of blue tape, with the foot it was more than enough. Enjoy!


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## vtcnc (Jan 2, 2019)

@forhire - thanks for joining the H-M forum membership! I've started following your projects and looking forward to more to come!


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## forhire (Jan 4, 2019)

I have had an opportunity to use the router with the pressure foot for a few small projects. This morning I tried it out on 1" plywood. I wanted to learn if my air could keep the pocket clear. It was no problem. Full depth of cut pocket with a .125 set over, straight 2 flute router bit. I imagine I could have pushed it a lot harder. Later in the day I also cut some 0.25" UHMW quilting templates. In the past it has been tough to keep UHMW from flapping. Worked perfect. Everything was fixtured with blue painters tape and super glue. Based on my experience I suspect the wood part may have been fine without out the foot but the UHMW definitely benefited from it. The thought that went through my head was why the machine didn't come with the foot from the factory, it worked that well.

The 1" plywood was for a simple CAT50 workstation tool rack. The Haimer 3D indicator has been taking up a pocket in the tool belt for way too long.


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## forhire (May 31, 2019)

Earlier this week I setup a small zinc plating line based on the Caswell Copy Cad kit. I've been having fun plating everything in sight. Today I decided to finally finish the plain steel part on the pressure foot. It turned out very nice. After reassembly I think black chromate would look better than than the yellow chromate.


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