Got my machine up and running finally and I’m trying to figure out my spoil board.
I have some solid foam housing insulation lying around I’d like to use up or would it just melt? Also, I was thinking 1/4" hardboard might be interesting to use since I could just adjust the height ring on the router to ensure it never can go more than halfway through the board. Assuming the table remains fairly flat that is…
Anyways… dumb question… how do you affix the spoil board to the table? How to you affix the wood you are cutting to the spoil board? What if you have an aluminum plate you want to cut how would you secure that?
My spoil boards are screwed to the tables in countersunk holes. Most of us just screw our materials to the spoil board, some have cut holes for clamps, others have routed slots for t-track. Few examples.
Heh, forgot it did this one. Was using half inch insulation for the spoil board. The plywood I’m cutting is held in place all the way in the back with a couple clamps. That’s it! Worked perfectly. You can also see a couple of the holes I put in the table top.
Here’s my table currently. MDF spoil board on top of the table. I transferred the holes into the mdf, at least the front half. I have 5/16th bolts and some quarter inch plywood as hold downs.
This one is using some metal brackets I got from something, can’t remember what though. Screws are just screwed into the spoil board. Metal brackets are at an angle and wedging the wood down to the table.
I have seen many use MDF for a spoil board (cheap and easy to find). Attaching it to their base with glue and/or carpet tape. Carpet tape is very thin and sticks to both sides. Put on strips of that, and in areas between strips, put down some normal wood glue. Then press it to the table, even screw it down for a while, like every 12" or so. Before you use it, remove the screws, do a light ‘smoothing’ and you are In Like Flint (old movie reference).
The think I like about this method, is you never remove the old spoil board. Just make a mostly smooth place for the new one, and put it down over the old one using the same method. No ‘extra waste’.
It is just another of many options.
I think Frank Holworth of Frank Makes on YouTube, uses wooden finish nails (they might be plastic) to hold his down.
