Let’s say I have a spoil board that sits on top of the MDF table of the machine. How would you go about attaching it to the table?
Screwing it directly into the base MDF is probably the easiest way to attach it. Downside: I have to remember that there are screws present before surfacing.
I was also thinking about using threaded inserts in the base MDF and then making screw holes through the spoil board. Upside: easier to counterbore holes. Downside: zeroing consistency.
I would screw it directly to the MDF. Put a couple drops of superglue in the pilot holes to help them last longer if you will remove & replace it. Put a couple locator dowels to position it.
Countersink the screws enough to give you room for surfacing.
I actually just glued some MDF down, using the machine w/ a narrow tool to cut away the excess (and a chisel to help where I mis-positioned it) since I wanted the entire surface to be accessible by a tool so that there wouldn’t be anything standing proud — best thing is, it’s entirely sacrificial, and no worries about hardware — worst thing is, removing it is a tedious process of machining it away and converting the money spent into sawdust…
Note that if you are covering any hardware holes you should cover those holes w/ tape (DAMHIKT).
In the past, I’ve machined holes for threaded inserts in the baseplate, then machined counterbored holes and used nylon bolts — in theory one doesn’t have to worry about hitting them, but then one does and then the part and spoilboard are getting pulled up into the cut…
Thanks to both of you for the quick response. You’ve validated that I’m WAY overthinking how to hold down the hold down thingy.
@WillAdams that’s both hilarious and clever. Every time I surface the spoil board, part of my brain goes “Oh no, my precious MDF!” and then the safety conscious part of my brain goes “Get your dusk filter, idiot, that’s aerosolized baby cancer!”
I have an SO3 and my spoilboard is MDF with 1/4-20 tee nuts. The corners of my spoilboard are countersunk and under on the factory MDF spoilboard are brass threaded inserts. I have counter sunk the holes enough to last the lifetime of the MDF spoilboard and not hit the heads. I used flat head screws.
(1) If you screw into the MDF, be sure to drill pilot holes first – you need to clear out some of the MDF to make space for the screw.
(2) Counter-sink your screws deep enough that you won’t hit them while surfacing. Also, use brass screws, not steel.
(3) If you do use threaded inserts, then you can use nylon screws
