Base Material
About the only locally source of MDF is from the Home Depot hardware store. I chose to use a 1/2"inch thickness which works out to 12.7mm. I was able to buy a 2ft x 2ft piece for about $6. This would be sufficient for the base and any extra bracing I might want to add.
Base Construction
Instead of gluing the base together, I chose to use small wood screws. Only a few are needed in a few key spots to hold it all together well.
Smooth Rod Lengths
While I was eventually able to source the correct lengths of smooth rod for the printer, I decided to use a set of different lengths to see how they affected the design and construction. For the X-Axis smooth rods, we have to adjust the width of the base to accommodate for the difference from the 17.5 cm. With different Y-Axis smooth rods, our bed length will change. Finally, any differences in the Z-Axis smooth rods have little impact on the overall design.
