Anyone thought of using a Corian bench top as a waste board. It can come in some pretty thick lumps and should machine easily and probably could be surfaced OK. I doubt there is any flex in it but hey what do I know.
I have some t tracks to install and was going to put mdf between them but maybe time to talk to the kitchen folks and see what they have available
I have been on the search for something similar. A guy on the cnc zone forums used Bakelite / phenolic sheet as the wasteboard on his router, itās very stable, can be drilled & tapped and can be skimmed flat.
Iāll have to look into corian bench tops though, Iāve not seen them before
The dust is pretty nasty.
True but probably not more so than MDF. Iād want to have good dust collection for most woods as the fine dust gets everywhere without it (and sometimes even with it)
The spec sheet I read says it comes in 12mm and 19mm sheets. I think the degree of ālevelnessā is about 1.8mm over a 3metre sheet so it seems pretty flat. Not sure what the deflection is like. There are plenty of other similar composite resin materials used for benchtops if you canāt find Corian.
This is the latest update to my setup, I wanted somewhere to mount my vise and will eventually put some threaded holes in for a fixture plate
Interesting vice, where did that come from?
Iām pretty sure itās this one:
https://cnc-plus.de/en/Workholding/Vises/Mini-Self-Centering-Vise--Machine-Tool-Vise-3414.html
Yep thatās the one, Iāll mill the Jaws out a little more, but itās great for the second op/side when machining aluminium, super sturdy
Just a reminder. I created a step by step instructional video on how to make my threaded wasteboard.
I like the way you explain things so beginners can understand it. with a bit of experience under your belt a threaded wasteboard seems trivial, however itās one of the first things you need to do when you buy the machine and for most people itās their first experience with CNC. Props to you.
Iāve had a short corner fence and cam clamps modelled for months and not yet cut them, theyāre not too dissimilar from the ones youāve designed. I like the idea of the cutout in the fence for the probe, I may update mine to incorporate that before I make them
I may have found one of my next upgradesā¦ Iām thinking a sheet of 10mm steel plate with two of these bolted to the top of it, and maybe maybe some HDPE or Bakelite bolted to it as a sacrificial component. Rigidity here I comeā¦
Yeah, I keep looking at that, or a bed made up of extrusions (a neat design for that was just posted to the Unofficial Facebook group and recorded on the wiki at: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Workholding#XXL_2 )
That is a nice setup - Iāve looked at extrusions too, but most seem quite lightweight, and if they are heavier grade they cost half of what the machine did! Those look to be pretty well priced though.
Iāll be going to my metal supplier in the next few weeks and will be getting quotes on a replacement base made from 10mm steel plate. I saw a guy on CNCzone forums had good results with bakelite/phenolic as a sacrificial wasteboard that can be milled and tapped. I ordered a small sample from Aliexpresss for testing, I just need to find some in Australia that isnāt crazy expensive.
Iām planning to drop the height of the steel plate a little, and give me the ability to mount a Vise similar to this one
PVC board is another option to consider, I know they have them at most Lowes and Home depot locations. Thatās my plan anyway. donāt have to worry about moisture and they are eat to mill.
They sound delicious.
Iāve considered pvc several times, but cant get past how flexible it is. When I looked into it, this random chart told me to go with MDF again, or move to aluminum.
Maybe check out something like this signage board? Itās thin aluminum sheets with a solid plastic core. Ive used lots of it when in the signage industry, and it is fairly rigid, but you can cut it with normal tooling.
https://www.laminatorsinc.com/sign-panels/products/omega-bond
I have my XXL table on a metal frame cart with wheels so i can move it as necessary. My floor is not 100% level due so I am sure the table flexes a little. I have a sheet of plywood on top of the table and the XXL on top of that.
I just surfaced it recently and I already see different heights in different areas of the waste board. I am not sure if this is due to the table flexing or from sag in the XXL frame.
I was thinking about using two sheets of MDF laminated using contact cement (I have used this method for a table saw outfeed table and it seems super rigid) to make the top of my table rigid then remove the feet of of the XXL and place it directly on the laminated MDF surface.
Any thoughts on if this will solve my problem or would the unlevel floor still be an issue for me?
I think the problem with MDF is the absorption of humidity in the material over all of the exposed surface. I wonder if we would have better results if we coated the MDF with something like polyurethane after milling the wasteboard. Humidity would only be absorbed through the nicks and cuts thereby reducing the absorbing area significantly.
I can see how humidity and moisture absorption can be a problem in some environments however my garage is both heated and cooled and stays pretty regular. I have had the table in my shop for two years now and no signs of irregularity in thickness from that. It is more sagging which I believe to be from the weight of the large pieces and insuficient support under the frame.
