Extending spoil board

[MadHatter]

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.

XXL Aluminum Baseboard

My Shapeoko 3 XXL should arrive in a couple days and I’ve been reading about issues with the MDF base sagging. I’m thinking about getting the wasteboard made out of 1/2" aluminum before I assemble to provide a more rigid base. I still plan on installing a threaded MDF waste board on top of it. I believe I found the drawing for the stock mdf board is two pieces. Can any one confirm if my drawing would work for a 1 piece base? [image]

Here is the thread of the first person to document flipping the plates (that I know of).

Alternative S3 construction to move usable space

This was on the FB group, looks like one or two discussions here also, but no pictures. This is NOT my build but something Mark Jurisch did. Some of the elements were flipped around such that the cutting area on his S3 is fully over the stock wasteboard instead of some of it hanging over the front. Thought it might be worth discussing, as I know I have little use for vertically mounting boards, but would happily reclaim an inch or two of usable cutting area. [image] [image]

And a more thorough write up of the process, and hardware needed.

Alternative S3 construction to move usable space

Thanks @mikep and @cgallery! The instructions worked a treat. I took photos of each of the steps, including repositioning the cable drag chain. What’s a good place ‘post’ a full set of instructions based on your notes and my photos? So the final step, it looks like I can increase Y from 360mm to 425mm. The wiki is down so I can’t figure out how to do this so I can take full advantage of the extra space…