Getting my xxl Friday if tracking info is correct. Got my base almost finished, got to get a sheet of Mdf for final top layer.
Looking at the various wasteboard designs from rectangular layout of just holes, holes with tnuts, circular layouts and rails with filler panels.
Anyone built one version and changed to another that they like better? or does it really matter?
I kind of like the rails with filler, but didn’t buy the oem kit, bit on the high side and I have a ton of mdf strips I can use for filler.
Just looking for advice as to what differences there might be
I feel the set-up that ends up working best for you will depend on the type of projects you routinely make. A waste board with holes and recessed t-nuts is a good project to get familiar with your CNC once your machine is set-up and tuned in.
Personally, I find I only use the T-track system to hold a waste board (no holes) or a vacuum table (homemade). As for the work holdings I use the vacuum table for thin Aluminum (0.045") and MDF (1/8"). Any dimensional metal or wood I mainly use the blue tape and glue method. One thing that I find helpful is when I level a waste board I leave a strip a long the left side uncut, this acts as a easy way to register the work material.
I’ve tried pretty much all of them, and they all have trade-offs.
sea of holes threaded inserts w/ regular spacing — pricey, many holes never get used
sea of holes threaded inserts w/ golden proportion spacing — less expensive, sometimes one can’t quite get things to line up (but usually one can)
T-track — completely flexible along the length of the track, one wants spacing in the other axis to be less than the reach of one clamp — I started with a proportional setup which exactly matched widths of PVC lumber which was nice for replacement, since I’ve installed the Carbide 3D kit and then upgraded it with the lengths from my previous setup (it almost worked out perfectly, but I have to cut two filler strips to size to fit, the balance are standard sizes)
I’ve decided that the next time I do this, I’m going to go with threaded inserts, but rather than installing them all up-front, I will have a master file into which I will draw individual hole locations, machining them into the wasteboard on an as-needed basis — that way I can always reference a given hole location, but I won’t have any un-used holes — I’ll just get a sheet of hardboard, and cut it to the size of the work-area, and machine the holes into it (guess I’ll need to add a set of inserts around the perimeter, outside of the working area to hold that for the machining or something).
One option I’d like to investigate would be T track on angles in the field, but with a perimeter of T-track — unfortunately, the parts which would support this are intended for 45 degrees — guess I’d need to make my own intersecting parts.
I like a fully flat wasteboard and using exclusively the tape&glue workholding method. No threaded inserts, no clamps to run into, full access to all sides of the stock.
Thanks guys. I think I’ll try the std layout on the main site. Probably need to drill out 47 holes for practice anyway. Amazon inserts only $9 for a hundred. Tried granger, but 1000 min on their listing… I’ll have them before machine gets here. I think I’ll have to use Something besides glue and tape on most of my projects…
Printed off a half dozen hold downs on my 3D printer this week in petg. They appear pretty darn strong. Much rather use pla as it prints way easier, but the petg is way stronger.
I’m new to this but this is the way that I chose to start the same way as @Julien. It was for a few reasons, but the primary was that I wanted to figure out to use the machine before I potentially wrecked the waste board trying to setup the machine. So for now I’m using conservative settings and watching how much I load the stock and going with adhesive work holding. I’ve got a bag for of threaded inserts that I’ll probably get to someday. Probably.
I used the Myers Woodshop spoil board, fence and cam clamps. You can get his design at his etsy.com shop for a couple of bucks or at his website for free myerswoodshop.com and he had a youtube.com channel that describes how to make it and the links to get the plans (files). Personally I have used the t-track spoil board and did not like because the clamps stick up in the air too high. With the Myers Woodshop cam clamps, fences and L shaped stops the work is clamped pretty flat and you do not have to worry about hitting them. I also have the OOPS clamps from suckit and they work pretty good but with the large and small cam clamps if a piece of work is too big or too small I insert shims between the work and the cam clamp.
Now my t-track spoil board was made with a router bit and the clamping made the spoil board break up (mdf) but you could use the aluminum tracks but then they are subject to be hit by the bit when cutting through the project into the spoil board. Those two reasons are why I do not like the t-track type spoilboards.
I made a Meyers setup but it’s pretty wrecked at this point, and since I mostly use the blue tape / glue combo I might not bother with all the damn holes agin (basically I am dreading removing all of them, lol)
At my local maker space , they just have a plain sheet of mdf on the shopbot and use a trim nail gun with plastic nails to hold stuff down. That worked, and I might give it a shot with my shapeoko as well.
With my XXL, I started with, and have been using the stock MDF with Amazon threaded inserts at 2" intervals. Be sure to experiment with a couple different hole diameters for your inserts, because the suggested diameters are often laughably bad. Epoxy or titebond will improve the lifespan of the inserts. I use a 1/4" MDF sacrificial wasteboard on top with holes that extend down into the true wasterboard.
I’ve been doing a lot of aluminum and have some surface finish issues that I partly attribute to the flex in the MDF base board. My next iteration is nearly ready, which is a 1/2" thick aluminum board that I’ll drill mill and threadmill (again, at 2" intervals, but maybe finer in the front-left, where I do most work), then place setscrews into holes when not used. This will hopefully prevent my holes from clogging, which I expect will be less of an issue anyway, since I can now delete the steel cross-straps.