I’m about to embark on the journey of surfacing my spoilboard - due to a bunch of newbie glitches, it’s already pretty scarred up and getting hard to ensure the 1/4 baltic ply I’m using for projects lies flat.
So my question is: what is the best way to set up a program to surface the spoilboard? Should I just draw lines in fusion 360 and have the machine follow them?
No need to draw lines, you can use a 2D Facing tool path.
In Fusion 360, create a box that represents the length and width (X,Y) of your working area…height does not matter.
In the Manufacture workspace create a setup with no additional stock.
Add a 2D Facing toolpath.
Add your wide bit and feed and speeds to the toolpath.
In the Height’s Tab, set the Bottom to minus whatever you want to cut. So say you want to cut 0.3mm from the top, set the bottom to “-0.3”.
On the Passes Tab, set the stepover. I used half of my bit diameter.
I would run the toolpath above your spoilboard first (perhaps at a faster feed) to make sure that your toolpath does not extend beyond the limits of your machine when set to your specified origin.
It wouldn’t hurt to do a facing run on a piece of scrap to get your feeds and speeds right before you surface your spoil board. A wide bit has more potential for deflection resulting in scalloping, and some test runs will figure this out. I ran my surfacing much slower than I would have with a smaller diameter bit. Also surfacing will show if your machine is out of tram (router not perpendicular to the spoil board), so you may have a tramming step followed by a more minor surfacing after your initial surfacing of your spoil board.
Woohoo! This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for the detailed and we’ll thought out answer. After work today I will follow this through.
Thanks again!