Resolved: NEW Spoilboard FIXED

Joaquim · April 26, 2023, 10:16pm

All,

I cannot believe it but last night I spoiled the new spoil board! Obviously small amount of the board is OK to “spoil” but this was a significant error on my part.

You can’t see it that well from these pictures but the cut depth is horrendous. I almost cut into the bed!!!

I was trying to cut out holes to line up different dimensions for a project I was working on. The holes weren’t coming out to the desired dimension—I was using outside-right cuts and a 1/4’’ bit. The reason I was using outside cuts was because I have a bigger project that uses outside cuts and I didn’t want to have multiple toolpaths for the same bit and project. As I was experimenting, I was using different pieces of scrap wood, of varying thicknesses. The problem was when it got late I was trying to finish up quickly—this is not an excuse but why I screwed up. Because I was moving too fast I didn’t set the z properly on one of my scrap pieces and it tore through the spoil board.

I instantly chipped in $100 to the consumables because this was an egregious error. I then tried to think of ways to salvage this spoil board. Hell, I was even there when @jamesfreeman put in the new spoil board this past weekend!

So, is there a way to salvage the spoil board? The idea of puttying+scraping+sanding came to mind, but @jamesfreeman pointed out that sanding can create an uneven surface (compared to the rest of the spoil board). Obviously surfacing would be much better. However, because my cut was so deep this most likely won’t work.

@jamesfreeman then did point out it was a pretty solid circle so if I had 3/4’’ MDF & cut the circle to the correct dimensions then I could fill in the gap. I remember my circles are 178 and 179mm outside cuts.

I purchased a 2x4 spoil board from HD so I can work towards fixing it.

It was a terrible mistake but I’m working to rectify it. I think seeing a problem and suggesting a solution is a great way to take ownership of the problem and ensure it’s unlikely to happen again. It’s part of being responsible in this makerspace and I apologize to others who wanted to use the big CNC today. I will be working to correct this problem tomorrow evening.

valerie · April 26, 2023, 11:09pm

Thank you so much for owning this and demonstrating to the community that mistakes happen and so long as you’re willing to rectify it, there is little that cannot be forgiven. Appreciate you taking steps right away and letting everyone know

gordoa40 · April 27, 2023, 3:41am

I think new spoil boards are cursed, there is always one deep cut within 48 hours or so haha

jamesfreeman · April 27, 2023, 3:43am

New procedure. Red tag the machine after the repair.

jamesfreeman · April 28, 2023, 4:38pm

Spoilboard was repaired last night. Should be good as new. Thanks @Joaquim for following through with the repair.

Joaquim · April 28, 2023, 6:46pm

Yes, the spoilboard was last night.

Took some experimenting, but I grabbed some scrap wood and tested out how close the holes I made were to the larger ones I made.

For those curious, here were the steps:

Measure out the fixed hole. I measured the diameter and then tested 2-3 times. I used outside cuts and was adjusting a millimeter at a time (because my original project was in millimeters).
Test out the fit. Put a fiber nail through the test piece so you have something to grab onto when pulling the test piece out. Otherwise a nearly fit piece could be a pain to remove from the spoilboard.
Putting a tiny bit of wood glue on the edges of the fit piece and installing in the circular piece in the spoilboard.
Resurfacing the reinstalled piece of spoilboard so it doesn’t protrude up past the main spoilboard.

I appreciate @jamesfreeman and @jiggliemon for helping me out as I worked toward getting this resolved. It goes to show us that an error, which could be perceived as large, turns out to later be easily solved as long as we quickly take responsibility for it.

And I promise–I’ll be much more careful on the CNC moving forward!