I am in the process of surfacing my spoilboard but I came across a few questions that I would like some advice on. How often should I place holes for attachment points? My current build size is 480mm by 480mm. Also, what type of threaded inserts do you recommend for 3/4" MDF to use at the attachment points?
For fusion 360, what type of operation do you recommend for surfacing a spoilboard? I also thought I saw somewhere in the CAM part of Fusion you can have your machine show up to get a rough view of your item on your machine for scale. Is that possible and does anyone know where to point me for help to get that setup?
I generally just screw into the waste board, depends on your use case.
As for fusion, you really should start with estlcam. Everything you learn can and will transfer over if you ever feel the need to switch but fusion is many times more difficult. I honestly could not make a carve happen just a few days ago in fusion, took me 3 minutes in estlcam.
I know these aren’t exact answers for your questions but it kinda sounds like you have some experimenting to do before you get to the questions you asked.
I wanted to use clamps to attach my parts. Like the x-carve. Since, I have dual endstops I want to have the front left corner be always square to the work, by attaching a corner mount.
I do not like EstlCam. I rather use a single software to design and cam. Also, I use mac so I cannot use Estlcam.
I have a Mac laptop that I use, but we also have a Windows machine in the house. I installed the Microsoft remote connection app on my Mac, so now I can work on my Mac while the Windows is just turned on.
Download estlcam on Windows, set up a shared folder on that system or the Mac, then you can gather files on your Mac, send them to the folder, then process them in estlcam.
Of course, none of this works if you don’t have a Windows machine to work on. Maybe you have more experience with setting up virtual machines though. I tried using fusion but couldn’t get a simple sketch put in, let alone generating a toolpath once I did get the sketch set up.
If I were populating a 480x480 grid I think I’d choose to place the holes every 80mm, or about 3". They should be plenty close together to fit most any work piece and you can handle the whole area with just 36 holes. As to which threaded inserts to use it would depend on what machine screws are easily available. For USA I’d probably use 1/4", for elsewhere in the world, 5mm or 6mm.
What type of threaded inserts do you recommend? I guess my question was too general. Should it be the ones that screw in or hammer in? Flange or no flange?
