Second Wasteboard?

Hey all, would you suggest using MDF on top of my hybrid bed. I have a Pro 5. I hate to mar up or damage the aluminum part of the bed if I screw up.

Some folks do this — the added travel of an HDZ makes it pretty workable (so long as the stock you are cutting will still fit).

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Unfortunately, every job has to be thought about in terms of workholding. If you’ll usually be doing the same type of job and that job calls for a wasteboard on top, definitely make one. I use one if glue and tape makes the most sense. When clamping makes the most sense, I don’t use one. Sometimes I’ll put hardboard under the piece in that case. I’ve used little 3d printed vacuum pods a few times, but that was mostly for fun.
That said, the individual that says workholding is their favorite part of CNC should be banned.

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Why did you use hardboard?

Not precisely a fit for what you’re asking but hopefully food for thought.

I’m currently making my second attempt at an aluminum fixture plate for my HDM. This time I will be removing the hybrid table completely. So far I have a mock up in MDF for proof of concept.

The center section covers the entire work area of the HDM. It sits proud of the side and back pieces to avoid interference. If you have sharp eyes you might note the slight “scratch” in the lower left quadrant. Caused by a worn collet I should have replaced.

Ideally a fixture plate should be just that, a convenient surface to enable the mounting of fixtures to hold stock. Machining parts directly on the plates is less than ideal as evidenced by the “scratch” referenced above.

I’m still a big fan of tape and ca for workholding. I also use clamps that require bolts to hold them down. So, a secondary waste board with sufficient surface area for tape and glue plus holes allowing access to the threaded holes in the fixture plate seems like a good idea.

The hole pattern exactly matches that of the fixture plate, each hole is 7mm so 6mm bolts slip thru to the fixture plate. The 15 anchor bolts also connect directly to the fixture plate.

The plate and the secondary wasteboard are milled in place insuring squareness to the gantry.

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If I know I’m cutting past the bottom of the stock for any reason, I’ll do it to preserve the slats.
I rarely do this, but I was giving a suggestion to help you if you’d like to use the t-tracks and preserve your slats.

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I will most likely be cutting through 1/4" plywood and other thin woods, as well as 3/4" plywood fairly often. Would you suggest a second wasteboard for that? I’m not going to be doing carves or even V-carves very often. Mostly cutting parts out.

I put a 1/2 mdf board on top of my 5’s slat bed, and have noticed that when using tape/glue to hold pieces, any mis-aimed glue will make the mdf swell. It’s probably just as easy to replace a slat as it is a large wasteboard, but the larger uniform surface is easier for delicate pieces to tape down. I can’t use the plastic fingers with the extra wasteboard though.

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I love that, I would love plans for that, so let me know. I would pay for plans like that on Etsy or somewhere as long as it was dimension for my 4x4" Pro 5. I would love to make my own vacuum table, but I’m not experienced enough with all of it yet, I would need detailed plans and a walkthrough.

The issue I have is I don’t have a table saw and I don’t want to buy one until I can afford a Sawstop. I have a Festool track saw, but it would suck to cut all that with it. I will be using either double sided tape or clamping.

Check out Xfasten double sided tape.

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After reading this review on Amazon, I don’t know if I should use it. I don’t own a sword of Eli…

This product is ridiculously good! I’d almost even say it’s too good! Unlike alot of other woodworking template tapes, this has a threaded reinforced interior quite like duct tape. I used the same amount of this tape as I would the normal tape I use for my table router templates… LITTLE DID I KNOW!!! This tape had an anger inside it that was about to be unleashed onto my templates… when I say it took the force of Thors hammer to break the bond this tape had on the mdf I was using - I mean it! I was so desperate to get these pieces apart I had the devils number dialed out and was about to sell my soul to have these pieces separated. I pulled these pieces so hard I gave myself a hernia, broke all my finger nails, bit my lip so hard I cried like a baby, and summoned link from the legend of Zelda. Even with the both of we couldn’t get it apart! It wasn’t until I used the sword of Eli and wedged it between the two pieces of material and smashed it onto the end of my work bench - that it had finally released its grip. If I where to give any advice upon purchasing this product… it would be to use 1/3 the tape you normally would! With all that said I’m definitely a fan!

Yeah, I bought a stack of roles of that and the Hippy Tape several people suggested. I’ve not made a cut yet, so we shall see.

One thing I do to avoid cutting through material is to use the bottom of the stock in the Carbide Motion application. You can use your BitZero to set X and Y on the lower left corner and then jog over to a clear spot on the spoilboard and use the BitZero to set Z zero on the spoilboard (bottom of material). This method has worked for me. I do occasionally use the top of material but 95% of the time I use bottom of material. It is just a matter of the work flow you use.

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… and here I was thinking that my 2" grid of holes was way overkill! (I rarely use 10% of them.) :smiley:

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Yeah, one of the things I decided if I ever do a grid of holes for one of my machines is that I will have a master file and create files where and as-needed using it — that way I could be confident that each hole was used at least once.

I read that as well before I ordered and figured that like any review on the web you should take it with a grain of salt.

Yes, the stuff is grippy. Isn’t that the point? It is way better than carpet tape in that it leaves no residue and the back peels off easy.

It is super strong. Using it for very thin pieces would probably be a bad idea. I have used it for 1/4” walnut though. On the hybrid table I simply slip the Allen wrench under the edges in the T slots and gently pry. I did stick some coasters to the top of my table saw while sanding them and had to use a thin screwdriver.

I tried the painters tape and CA glue a couple of times. It works great as well but you need to make sure the tape on the table and the tape on the workpiece intersect. I have seen some guys cover the whole surface of the workpiece but I was just using strips.

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Indeed!

But, the 20mm grid is to accommodate the SMW mod vise’s I use. Also, I occasionally have multiple setups for various projects on the table at once. The plethora of holes allow great flexibility.

And, that’s only 1/2 the holes that will be cut in the aluminum plate haha! There’s another grid offset 10mm.

Finally, I have this really cool robot that bores and threads and chamfers all the holes for me! Saves me a thousand +bucks too!!

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I cut a piece of .inexpensive .25" mdf the size of my job and put it under the stock. That way I don’t worry about clamping issues or over cutting a bit during a profile cut. My factory bed slats are still pristine after dozens of jobs. KISS principle for me.

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