I’ve been getting into making epoxy coasters and have been thinking of the quickest way to use the shapeoko to surface the excess epoxy and i came up with the following idea: take a piece of mdf and carve a couple of shallow pockets with the same dimensions of the coasters and clamp it down on my spoilboard. My coasters have rounded corners so the geometry should match. Pop the coasters in the pockets and program the toolpath with the dimensions of the mdf and zero the z off the top of the coasters. My thought is that way i can surface multiple coasters at the same time with hopefully a tight enough fit that the coasters wont move, but i can still get them out fairly easily. What do you guys think? or have any better suggestions?
How do you hold them down, clamp them? The cutter will try to lift the part if it’s not clamped well.
I did an MDF fixture to cut some Christmas ornaments. A pocket for the ornament, slip fit. A bandsaw slot to allow some movement. And a screw to clamp the part.
If you’re doing multiples, strategically placed slots & a long clamp could do the trick.
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You may want to add a ~1/4" hole all the way through the center of the pocket, or possibly 3-4 evenly distributed in case the coasters end up super snug in the pocket. With the holes you can apply some additional encouragement to get them out - short dowel(s).
Tod’s slot suggestion may allow enough give so the holes wouldn’t be necessary, just a thought.
I have an SO3 with supplemental spoilboard with 2" spacing and Tee nuts with 1/420 bolts. I have done what Tod showed many times with the jig big enough to have 2-4 1/4" holes to bolt it down. I have also used the slot with a bolt to tighten around round objects or if it is a one of I will just add an F clamp to hole the round object while vcarving.
Here is an example of a rectangular box I clamped down to vcarve on the top.
On the newer hybrid tables the gator or tigerclaw clamps would also work as long as your object is long enough to span two tracks.
Vacuum clamps? I have a couple of Rockler vacuum clamps that work pretty well. There’s a few good videos that show how to make your own.
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