Carve King Spoil Board

[scottacus]

I'm debating with myself what the best way is to fix a spoil board to a Carve King bed. 

One part of me says just put a sheet over the entire bed, use the channels to hold it in place and screw into it to fasten down projects.  Another says lay individual boards between the channels and screw them into the base with countersunk screws to keep open those channels to hold clamps for work pieces. 

Any opinions of the best option or what works for you?

[Goliathan]

I'm new to this so take what I say with a barrel full of salt, but I'd be hesitant to start drilling holes into the bed of my Carve King by putting screws in there. Especially knowing that eventually that spoil board is going to need replacing, possibly by ly meaning a whole new set holes will be drilled. No bueno.

I'd probably use the mill itself to counterbore some holes matching up with the existing T slots and use short hardware to secure the spoilboard to the bed, making sure the hardware is well below the surface. Then you can just screw clamps right down to the spoilboard, or if you want to get fancy, come up with some other T slot arrangement for that level after you flatten it. I wouldn't think it necessary to go that far though.

[Mototech]

I'm using two spoilboards. The base 1/2" mdf sheet cut to span the full width of the stock bed and cut to fit between the stiffening brackets. I drilled holes about 1/2" in from each edge that line up with each t slot. Using 1/4-20 hex bolts with fender washers and wingnuts to hold it down. The bolts and wingnuts sit under the y axis extrusions. So no chance of collision with the cutting bit. Gotta make sure that if your spoilboard has a warp to it(every piece of mdf I have used has a warp) that you place the board so the edges sit up and the bolts pull it down. You might get a bow in the middle if you have it upside down.

I then run a pocket op with a 1" surfacing bit to level the board. For my second board, I cut a 400x400mm square piece of 1/2 mdf. I drill holes in the larger base board by jogging the router and plunging manually. I then screw in round m3 standoffs to use to align the 400x400 spoilboard and mount it with the super glue and masking tape method. Then finally run a face op on the 400x400 board.

I mill mostly 1/4" and under plastics. So cutting a 400x400 piece of stock and aligning to the 400x400 spoilboard works great for me. Plan to make a post soon with details of my setup.

[scottacus]

So the base board is just there to level out the bed and the 400 x 400 board is where the plastics get cut and that board can be changed out when it is used up?

[James@fireaxe]

I run a 3/4" particle board cut into strips between the T slots. They run the full width of the bed. Its secured to the bed with counter sunk screws. I then manually made a 30mm x 30mm square grid to aid in aligning the stock with a V bit.

[jerryrw]

I at this exact point myself and have been contemplating it for a week or so. I have the starboard version so I am VERY reluctant to go drilling into it. I've been using temporary 1/4 mdf slats between the t-slots and for single sided things and it seems to work fairly well. I want to move into some double sided projects so I'm looking at a better solution. I bought some 1/2 mdf last night to try a method almost exactly like Mototech described above. The bits wont reach the far left and right portions of the t-track under the Y rails and the entire back t-slot is also out of bounds so bolting to those areas shouldn't cause any collisions. On top of that base 1/2 layer I'm thinking two solutions. The first is another layer of 1/2 possibly with some squaring rails or other types of jigs attached and screw / dowel into it for registration on two sided parts. The second is a 3/4 layer with evenly spaces 1/4 20 inserts countersunk into the back side placed on top of the initial 1/2 base. I'm still kind of up in the air on attaching the second layers to the fist though.

[Bruce]

Typically for the stuff I do (wood working) I find I only need a spoil board if I'm doing a profile cut all the way through the material. If that happens I just attach the spoil board to the workpiece by super glue/blue tape method or screw them together. Then clamp the whole kit and kaboodle to the CNC bed.

[Mototech]

Dec 19, 2018 3:16:14 GMT scottacus said:

So the base board is just there to level out the bed and the 400 x 400 board is where the plastics get cut and that board can be changed out when it is used up?

You got it. But I usually don't cut very deep into my spoilboard. Thus I can run a face op again to smooth it back out. I've only refaced my current spoilboard twice in the past 6 months. I anticipate it lasting quite a while before I have to cut a new one.

[scottacus]

I really didn't want to drill into the Carve King bed so I ended up making a spoil board that is held in place with 1/4 bolts around the lateral edges. I did drill holes and insert 1/4" T-Nuts into recesses on the back side of the board at strategic positions so that I can used clamps on those to hold down pieces instead of using the channels in the Carve King bed.

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[jerryrw]

Here is what I came up with for my first setup for a screw down / tape down board.  The bottom is 1/2 mdf bolted on the edges.  The top is 1/2 mdf held down with counter sunk screws.  I put the rails on and manually jogged the machine to square them off.  Plan to use mostly for some double sided projects in thin stock that will be screwed / taped to the top spoil.

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