Don’t the raptor nails require a special nailer to drive them? It might be worth picking one up for members who need something else to attach their workpiece to their spoilboard.
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You can drive them with a normal gun, but if you don’t decrease the pressure, they shatter. The Raptor guns are pricey. I have the nails, use occasionally, but not the first thing I am likely to grab.
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if there ends up a bulk order from the former end mill supplier, I would like in on it.
Yes sir. And the cow jumped over the moon.
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Which reminds me, we need a pry bar (or wedge + hammer) to go with our fire extinguisher. The fires have always been in the space between the wasteboard and the bed. During such a fire, getting the wasteboard off the bed seems like a good choice.
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You don’t need a stinking Crow bar, let’s just insert some charges inside the nylon bolts and blow them out. Probably less damage.
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Current status:
No new progress on this project as we are waiting for the new cutters to arrive. Could be a couple of days.
Just run some fast fuse cord looped past the ports and each of the bolts, and it becomes both a fast access, and audio/visual alert feature.
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I do it now. I drive a VW Jetta. I bought a 4x8 sheet of 1/2" MDF at LowesDepot and had them cut it down into four 2x4’ chunks that fit in my trunk. I keep meaning to cut oval handles into the long edges to make them a little easier to carry.
It appears something has changed. IMO it would be better to fix that, and as has been discussed, reiterate the Z-axis setup and repair procedures in training.
It’s the same as always. Nothing has changed. Nobody is going to surface the entire table because they cut through a few millimeters in one zone. So the bed turns into a raggedy piece of shit that some volunteer has to spend two hours getting resurfaced.
We don’t want a properly repaired bed. We want a bed that isn’t damaged in the first place.
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Even 1/4" MDF should work for a personal spoilboard, and only weighs about 9 ponds per 2’ x 4’ piece. Home Depot has them already cut to 2’ x 4’ sheets for under $9 each. That means that for about $40 you can have a personal spoilboard, in easy to manage, easy to transport pieces. And if you do cut into it too deeply then you can replace just the bad piece for under $10.
Honestly, I hadn’t only thought of a spoilboard as a single 4’ x 8’ sheet until @mdredmond pointed it out cutting it down to a manageable size. D’oh! Route an opening and sand the edges down and you have convenient handles. I’ll be doing this before I use the Multicam again.
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So you get good results with a sled assembled from several pieces ?
I hadn’t considered that possibility. That would help substantially.
Do you have some repeatable way of connecting them, and did you have to face them to level ?
Perfectly fine results. I don’t connect them - the vacuum holds them down butted against each other. I don’t surface because they are cut from the same 4x8 sheet. I have surfaced them and when I do that I do them all together.
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They edges should just slide up next to each other and stay there once the vacuum is enabled. Keep in mind that the 4x8 MDF is actually 49"x97". An extra inch in each direction is provided since edge damage is a common occurrence during shipping and wholesale handling. As a result you might want to edge the boards prior to ganging them up. Otherwise they should snug right up. Edging can be accomplished via the Multicam. Align it in the dog holes and cut two sides, then flip and repeat. Easy peasy witht he new DMS dog hole system. Since they are low profile dogs, might thye be referred to as pup holes, or pups?
Are you replying to me? 
Not really. You already know this trick.
An example might help…
I routinely cut “3/4” Baltic birch plywood, which is actually only 18mm, or .709” thick. Likewise, 3/4 “American” plywood is only 23/32, give or take.
If I go into VCarve and set my material up as 3/4” and create a full depth profile cut, VCarve won’t complain.
If I then go run my job without setting max depth, I’m going to carve into the spoilboard by that 0.041 or 1/32, give or take, not nearly enough to go through an auxiliary spoilboard.
The router cuts only as deep as you tell it to. I doubt users are telling their job to cut [auxiliary spoilboard thickness] through their work but it wouldn’t surprise me if deliberate cuts all the way through to some depth happen because it gives a better bottom finish.
Some of the cut through was due to the unevenness of the table after repeated damage, boards detaching, etc. Setting zero in one place and cutting in a different one results in cutting too deeply in some places and not deep enough in others. The current work is meant to alleviate that to the extent possible.
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**** GOOD NEWS ****
@IanLee has dropped the carbide inserts off. We expect to continue forward tonight. We will keep everyone updated as we progress.
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I’ve experienced this exact issue with MDF that was near to perfectly 3/4" in thickness; telling vCarve to cut at something closer to .700" for safety and coming back and cleaning up the edges later has, on multiple occasions, still managed to make visible cuts into the spoil board - not but by the tiniest of depths, but visible nonetheless.
I last ran into this several weeks ago and suspect that it was probably due to (as you said) repeated damage or detachment of the panels. A second substrate would negate such damage altogether and, speaking as someone with a four door hatchback, I’m pretty okay with hauling up a set of 2’x4’ 1/2" MDF panels to use as an additional layer for my projects if need be. I’d also be in favor of having some “community-use” panels that can be left with the machine. Given that storage is still on lockdown, I wouldn’t want to restrict folks with small vehicles (like myself, not going to lie) that can’t fit additional materials in their cars from being able to use the machine.
Just my two cents.
EDIT: Thanks to all those who spend their time working on this beast to keep the rest of us happy - you are tremendously appreciated.
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When you review at the pattern on the phenolic it become apparent that that table isn’t flat. If you looked at it before we cut into it, it would appear flat enough.
So members develop a better understanding of the tolerances we are discussing, I will present an example. Let say we are 1/8" out of level on a back yard fence. Most 8’ fences in the metro-plex are on 6’ centers(between posts - due to wind loads). A 1/8" out of level doesn’t sound significant, but how out of whack is it at the next post? A 1/4" or .25 x 6’ = 0.75, 3/4". 0.75 of an inch. In my cabnet/trim world this is a lot. This is the thickness of a whole sheet of cabinet plywood. The Multicam can cut in .001 of an inch. That is 1/1000 of an inch. Fine furniture is usually toleranced at 1/64" or .0156". Very fine, and very expensive cabinets clock in at .03"
Our Multicam table is between 0.125(1/8") and 0.25(1/4") out of flat. We are shooting for .003" over 8’. That is still 0.024 over 10 feet in length. In orther words, very close to betweem 1/64 and 1/32 of an inch. This means that if you were CNCing a cabinet side that is 8’ in length it is beginning to get wonky.
Why does this matter to our members?
Most of our members won’t be making 8’ tall bookcase cabinets. They might be flattening 8’ long slabs for dining room tables. The cleaner your slab is, the more thickness you will have left after processing (planing/sanding).
Anyway, this is the math behind why router bits seem to dig in, the longer the cut path is. Easy peasy, applied seventh grade math. And you never thought it would come in handy:) If you are being difficult, yes this can expressed as a slope.
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