I messed up the CNC router table

I had a broken bit and when I restarted the job i didn’t redo surface and max depth. Call me on my
cell or email me and I will come in and assist with replacement table top. I took a picture. I’m rally sorry about this guy’s…

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tagging @IanLee . thank you for posting about it and willing to help fix it

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Thank you for posting the damage. Do remember next time to double check that the pendant box is closed and locked.

Did you notice any issues with the multicam when you were running it?
I ran a job last night and everything was fine but this morning the xy axis sounds louder than normal.

It was a little louder than normal.

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Which zones?

Front most to computer, so zone 1 and… a bit of 4?

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Did you use the machine this afternoon?

The whole table could be milled down or flipped over and milled. A ton of wood filler the vacuum doesn’t suck as much.

Naw. Zone 6 is no longer stuck down. The others have corners that have popped up. Dust is making it to the vacuum pump. The wasteboard is toast.

We need to switch to a model where

(a) the “spoilboards” are not considered as such (i.e., they are not meant to be cut into at all), and

(b) people must bring in their own MDF or similar to serve as a spoilboard.

We have too many users for a community “spoilboard” to be practical.

This is what I do now and it’s very, very effective and basically eliminates any danger of damaging the, um, not-spoilboards.

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Should we just get a single 5x10ft MDF again?

I suspect that will not work well. I think we’re going to have to continue sealing the boards to the table. I think doing that with one giant sheet is going to be somewhere between difficult and impossible.

I recall that was not a great solution even before Bert added the zones. But I can’t recall why.

I am willing to try it.

Matt what size are your spoil boards?

  1. All phenolic zones must be sealed individually along their surface borders.
  2. All when covering the zones with mdf, the zones edges must be sealed.

Lessons so far:
Using foam tape to seal the zones allows too much flex and the seals break.
Using round foam weather stripping as a zone seal hasn’t been viable.
Cutting directly on the base mdf board is not a workable system at DMS.
Lack of work alignment pins causes setup issues.
Screwing materials or nailing into the current backer isn’t a wise solution.
Resurfacing the spoil board in-leu of replacement hasn’t been practical in cases such as this one.

Vacuum Solutions:
Seal all phenolic zone edges with caulk/silicon(which?), allowing new mdf to sit flatter.

Use individual zone boards again with a chemical sealant vs tape on the edges to maintain zone vacuum.
OR:
Use a single mdf board and cover the whole table, perfectly flat, then route 1/8" groves across all zone boundaries within 3/16" of depth of the spoil board. Seal these cuts with a non ferrous, non porous material that won’t destroy carbide.

Enhancements:
All users must provide personal spoil boards and router bits. Thickness of spoil board TBD. 1/2", 3/4", or 1". MDF and plywood would both be acceptable.
New surface is fitted with registration dog holes to ease and speed job setup. DMS provides low profile plastic dogs that users can incorporate into their designs for personal spoil board registration. These would also create a holding force and allow the vacuum to be more reliable.

Penalties:
Cut into the new spoil board to the extent of what David has done, one month loss of use. I really like David, but I can’t get over how deep this error cut into the table. How could you not realize the router is buried all the way to the collet nut for a whole job? We might have require 3/4" spoil boards.

New setup process idea. Require all jobs to cut a surface line on the user supplied boards to ferret out depth problems prior to running a job. The user could even have a second test board. The dog hole would allow for this and so much more.

Not being around perhaps? Walking away seems to be the only way you wouldn’t notice this

To expand this suggestion which is the one I think has the best chance of success:

  1. Remove the current spoilboards and clean the phenolic surface.
  2. Seal all edges of a 5x10 sheet of Ultralight MDF with aluminum tape.
  3. Put strips of the Amazon double sided tape (@mdredmond has offered to donate) along all the zone edges and intersections.
  4. With enough helpers, carefully position the MDF sheet on the table being sure to align it the way you want it the first time. That particular tape is hell for sticky. (You should consider clamping some temporary “frame” pieces around the table so you can use that to align the sheet when setting it down on the tape.)
  5. Cut the 1/8" grooves along the zone intersections and clean them out completely.
  6. Fill the grooves with Bondo All Purpose putty. Bondo doesn’t chip/crack the way Durham’s Water Putty can.
  7. When the Bondo has cured, surface the top.

I buy a sheet of 4x8 1/2” MDF and let LowesDepot cut it down into 2x4 pieces that fit easily in my trunk.

@Brian I think we should at least explore a single 5x10 or perhaps two 5x5 boards. We can help lower cross-zone vacuum leakage by routing a 1/4” dado between zones and filling it with putty.

Edit: I just said what @SWA said.

Something else I’d like to do on the “permanent” vacuum board is drill 20mm pockets at least along the x and y for insertion of bench dogs to be used to align our personal spoilboards precisely with the table. Then similar pockets in our spoilboards can be used to align out work precisely with our spoilboards (and thus with the table). I hope that makes sense.

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Thanks for the insight.

I will be doing that with zone 6 in the very near future.

I used the remainder of the 2sided tape (only a few feet were left anyway) from the cabinet on Saturday, a fresh new roll is scheduled to be donated tomorrow if amazon has no delays.

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