Trying to figure this out and could use some help.
I have a Shapeoko 3 and I need to create a threaded waste board to secure on top of the base board of the machine (first time doing this). The cutting area of the machine is 16"x16" and most of the spoil board examples I’ve seen are cut to that size.
My challenge is that I cut 16"x16" designs into the center of 20"x20" panels. To hold these large pieces in place, I was thinking of making the waste board 23"x23" and adding additional threaded inserts for workpiece holding and a fence for alignment.
I can’t think of an easy way to do this completely with the machine. Probably best to cut the holes within the 16"x16" space with the machine and then take it off and manually add the other holes.
One thing you need to consider is that you will likely want to surface your wasteboard at some point, and then…if it’s larger than the machine’s work area, you’ll end up with a shallow pocket in the center, which is the opposite of what you need if you are going to use stock larger than 16x16".
I’m sure people will come up with tricks they have used, I for one would do a regular wasteboard (a bit smaller than 16x16, notice that the actual reachable area varies a little from machine to machine, depending on your setup/accessories, so the best way is to jog to the limits on YOUR machine/setup, and measure). And then I would add small supports outside the work area, to provide support for the “corners” of the stock, and clamp them there (paying attention to not bend the stock while doing so).
Depending on the project, you might also get away with just centering the stock on the work area and letting it overhang on the sides. I did that a couple of times (using tape & glue as the workholding), with an extra inch overhang on all sides, and it worked just fine.
