Surfacing my T track

[smrjohn (Steve Johnson)]

I’m seeing where everyone uses a surfacing bit to level their waste board then tram the Shapeoko. I have the T track so I don’t use a waste board. Do I use the surfacing bit on the mdf between the T tracks before tramming?

[CrookedWoodTex (Tex (Don't Mess With My Texas!))]

@smrjohn

mdf between the T tracks

That is your spoilboard.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

No, surfacing the MDF before installing the T-track will create a pocket which will be problematic.

Instead, surface the MDF filler strips — as an optional thing, I cut the MDF filler strips short of where the machine can cut at a 45 degree angle, then cut PVC lumber at that same angle to use as filler strips, securing it at the front of the machine:

A different sort of filler strip

Decided I wanted a slightly more efficient usage and mounting of filler strips, so this is what I came up with: the existing strips were cut off a bit shy of the working area at a 45 degree angle, and additional holes added to secure them just short of where the angle meets the baseplate underneath the wasteboard strips were then cut at a 45 degree angle so as to fit snugly underneath at the back, and at the front to fit, and a hole with a countersink to accommodate a nylon bolt was cut in the…

[smrjohn (Steve Johnson)]

Thanks. I thought so but someone in a different post said put a spoiler board on top of T track and surface it. I thought that would not allow me to use the t track system so I wanted to make sure.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

You can add a spoilboard on top of the T-track — I’ll often do this when cutting through stock if I expect the gaps in-between the T-track to be problematic for a given cut — just use a piece of suitable scrap as large as the stock

[LiamN (Liam Newcombe)]

I just bought some T Track from a local supplier (shipping MDF to the UK seemed like a bad choice) and cut my own filler MDF from a regular board of 18mm.

The T-Track is a few mm thinner than the 18mm MDF, I recessed the screw heads a few mm as well. This lets me put a large bottom cleaning bit in the spindle and run a wasteboard levelling job.

I used some sealing finish on the MDF in the Shapeoko kit to protect it from damp etc. and put all the T-Track and MDF wasteboard on top. The MDF is cheap and it only takes a few minutes to table saw three replacement strips when I’ve cut through too much of it to resurface without clipping a T-Track.

Handy hint from my mistake, if you’re cutting your own MDF fillers, don’t go this close to the side edges or back of the machine or you’ll be unable to surface the edges, leaving an irritating lip at the edge of your workspace, I’ll be moving the two outside T-Tracks when I replace these MDF fillers.

Hope that’s helpful.

[smrjohn (Steve Johnson)]

Thanks. I do that sometimes as well.