Hi Everyone,just a quick question,I have the SO3 and was wondering if anyone has extended the spoil board out over the front of the Machine and if so was the rigidity compromised by cutting a slot to fit over the angle and extra unsupported board over the front?
Folks have done this:
and I experimented with this a bit (but can’t find the post), and it seems to work well.
For my purposes, I was willing to sacrifice Z height for an extended bed. I also wanted better clamping, and easier wasteboard replacement.
I installed a piece of 3/4" MDF over the stock bed, then milled and installed threaded inserts (every 2", plus a few extra). Then I installed a piece of 1/2" MDF over that, and milled access holes through it to the inserts. That is now that waste board. When I replace it, I don’t have to re-do the inserts, just recut the access holes. The 1/2" MDF is sized so I can flatten the entire surface - no ‘lips’ around the edges.
To stop the holes and inserts from filling up with crap, I use what is basically a long nylon grub screw:
The 1/2" MDF goes right past the front with no slot required, and now I get about 3 extra inches of usable Y range. Anything that goes that far would be big enough that it would be clamped on the main area, so the slight lack of rigidity isn’t really a problem.
Also, tool changes now happen over the new bed, a tool dropping out of the collet is less likely to hit the floor.
1 Like
I flipped the gantry plates on my SO3 XXL so I have extra cutting area that is over the existing spoil board.
I designed and printed indexing jigs to drill new holes in the plates, and it has been working great for years
Here is the thread describing my process.
Here is the thread of the first person to document flipping the plates (that I know of).
And a more thorough write up of the process, and hardware needed.
2 Likes
That is very informative and the extension would help by saving the v bits I drop onto the concrete floor.How did you attach the sacrificial top board?
It’s just screwed down into the board that has the inserts. The screws are counter-sunk, so I can surface right over them. I screwed it down, then took it off again, removed the ‘mounds’ you get when screwing into MDF, then fastened it down for good.
Since the inserts are in the MDF under the wasteboard, it doesn’t have to be secured crazy hard, just enough that it won’t shift, or bow. Any clamping will also clamp the wasteboard.
I’ll take a picture of it tomorrow and post it here.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.