Flattening waste board - carbide create help

[mbhwhitney (Mike Whitney)]

Hey gents - I need some help

Issue - no idea how to create (2) files - please see below.

Equipment:
Shapeoko XXL
3/4" Bottom Cleaning Bit

What I’ve done so far:

I copied the XXL waste-board kit from the online Carbide store with locally sourced track and MDF I had on hand. My waste-board covers the entire deck, which I’ve learned will leave a ‘ridge’ marking the X/Y boundaries one I run the levelling function.

To eliminate this, it was suggested that I run a 32"x32" ‘square’ in Carbide Create to give me a thin outline as reference. From there, unscrew my existing waste-board and then trim off the ‘out of bounds’ area with a table-saw, re-mount to my XXL base and then run a levelling function.

I’m guessing that this will take 2 separate files in Carbide Create - one to mark the perimeter with a light pass and another for the actual levelling process once I have my waste-board trimmed and reinstalled.

1. For the first operation (perimeter cut), I’ve created a new file in Carbide Create setting ‘stock size’ to 32 x 32.

2. For ‘stock thickness’ I set it to .75 (3/4" MDF) - dropdown is set to ‘top’ but I don’t know if this is right.

3. Toolpath Zero - set to ‘Lower Left’

4. Material - set to MDF-Wood

5. Machine set to SH. XXL - ‘retract Height’ set to default 10mm (no idea if this is suitable / what this means).

Then I created a rectangle at 32 by 32, X/Y are set to 16".

This is as far as I’ve gotten. I have no idea what to enter in the ‘Toolpath’ tab or how to run the next file for actually levelling the board.

I appreciate any help. ‘Dumbing down’ is highly encouraged. Thanks!!

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

A couple of issues here:

• the area which needs to be surfaced isn’t 32 x 32 — suggest you use the rapid position points to work out where the machine can move to: https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/SO3_Function_Test#Distance_of_travel
• once you have the desired geometry worked up in relation to the movement area of the machine (see: Notes on rapid positions and wasteboard leveling for a sample file for an XL) you’ll need to create a suitable pocket toolpath — just have it cut 0.1mm
• having a wasteboard which is only the working area will result in an island which is awkward to clamp to.

Retract height is the height to which the machine will retract in-between passes — see: http://docs.carbide3d.com/assembly/carbidecreate/video-tutorials/#toolpaths for a discussion of this and https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Glossary for terminology

[mbhwhitney (Mike Whitney)]

Thanks for your reply, Will.

RE

…having a wasteboard which is only the working area will result in an island which is awkward to clamp to.

Can you explain further why this may pose a problem?

As a note, my current WB fills the entire stock base (as per the ‘kit’). I have T-Track running front to back (4 lengths) spaced ~4" from the outermost strips and ~10" between (again, as per the kit).

My intention after cutting the outermost perimeter (making the island) was to maintain these T-tracks, but trim them down. I believe you mentioned in another post to let the tracks extend slightly beyond the WB.

This all said, do you still foresee clamping to be a problem?

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

Usually when clamping you want a level surface — material will also be flatter / chatter less is fully supported — with the island you’ll want to shim clamps and materials if they are larger than the working area.