I like the concept. How about topping it with self healing cutting mats, with grids? (Ideally with both imperial/metric measurements)
So the point of the cover is to protect the self healing cutting mats, if we put mats on top of our protective cover we would need a second protective cover to protect those mats, next thing you know its just a stack of mats and hardboard 8’ high and the space is broke.
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I worded it poorly. Would flippable boards be a good option? Hardboard on one side, cutting mat on the other.
My first question would be where do we store the mats when they are not being used so that they are out of the way and protected. However,if we go for a flippable mat then that sort of solves that problem - the rule would be once your are done with the cutting mat side, flip it to the hardboard side for protection and storage.
You want the cutting mat to be one piece or else its pretty useless for large cuts, its 4’x8’ it weighs north of 35 pounds. Adding in 30 pounds of hardboard means no one is going to flip it. Even 30 pounds of floppyness is not easy for someone to flip. We have members with limited lifting capacity.
The cutting mat stays on the surface, intact, in one piece, the boards go over the top to protect it. Each board should be under 8 pounds.
As for storing the boards, just lean them up against a wall, or magnet them to the side of the base.
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I guess there is also that space directly under the table’s surface (accessible when you lift the surface on it’s hinges) to store the boards.
When Ty suggested a cover, I was picturing something like a hot tub cover; Rigid and folding
Ah, cover the nice surface with removable boards… Good idea!
If you’re going to cut a rhino, I would think you’d want a bigger mat. 
That one is $170 USD and will be really heavy…
What about getting 3-4 smaller mats?
No seams to hit/snag/catch a blade on with a full table sized matt. Plus smooth the whole way across
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It’s difficult to cut fabric with multiple mats - you need one smooth surface to run the cutter around.
I guess a cover might help. Someone can also leave it off and still paint or use resin/varnish/etc on the craft table and trash it.
I guess overall I’d also advocate for Rule Zero, 'casuse a violation of that is what trashed the table in the first place. Might need more signage to that affect as well.
I’m more and more thinking about how we could/should make a pool table to cover the craft table.
a removable hard cover shifts the burden from “please don’t ruin my really nice thing” to “I better put this cover back on or they will ruin my nice thing”
How do people take apart the pool table to access the craft table? Just the idea of easy to convert from one thing to another by 1 single alone person instead of requiring a group of people. If someone is at the hackspace alone and wants to craft and can’t remove pool table then it’s problematic. Otherwise if someone alone without anyone around can safely move things awesome.
@Davonna yeah, I agree, it’s not very practical for daily use. I guess I just really miss the pool table from the old space.
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