Can I cut my max wasteboard out of a larger MDF?

[Kenneth91619 (Kenneth)]

Hello,

I’m new to CNC and I don’t have a lot of precision tools. I had a slab of MDF cut out at Home Depot to 36x42. Can I in theory cut out my 32x32 waste board out of this slab? How do I go about securing the large slab and the 32x32 wasteboard or do I not worry about the inside cut moving? Also I so new to this that I don’t have any CAD design for a wasteboard. I wanted to do a simple vacuum table out of the Wasteboard itself with a 2 1/2 cutout in the center for the vacuum underneath but I read online that shop vacs will burn up without continuous airflow. So I’m back to square one and I just want a simple wasteboard that doesn’t utilize rails or other fancy gadgets. Just simple wood screws from Home Depot to hold down the wasteboard in place. Anyone have wasteboard, flattening, fence and clamp files I can import straight into my Carveco Maker software? Also a simple list of hardware I will need to run down to Home Depot and pick up. Many Thanks you guys. I picked up a 1/4" upcut router bit at home depot already that I will be using for my work pieces. What other bits will I need to complete the wasteboard for example like the flattening? I’m going to be cutting only acrylic on this machine and thin anodized Aluminum. My machine is a X-50 (32x32).

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Kenneth,

with a Onefinity Woodworker machine, you can move the center of your bit 816 mm in X direction and 816 mm in Y direction. So if you want to cut out a piece of wood out of a workpiece, the maximum size will be 816 − 2 x bit radius mm.

You can define a toolpath for a wasteboard of maximal 816 mm x 816 mm, or it will be refused by the machine with a beyond limits error. And it has to be zeroed very exactly if it has this maximal size.

But if you go exactly to these limits, the radius of the bit will extend beyond them so the area you can mill with e.g. a surfacing bit will be this amount, one bit radius, bigger in all diretions.

For the distance of the machine’s feet from the workarea (i.e., from the maximum positions of the center of the bit), see here: Cutting area location.

Note that the workarea is not centered between the machine’s feet in Y direction. The milling motor is at a distance more forward than the machine’s feet, and is not the same on Standard Series with 65 mm mount, dto. with 80 mm mount, Elite Series with 65 mm mount, and dto. with 80 mm mount. It differs in forward direction by up to 15 mm according to model.

@Aiph5u

By the way, the manufacturer offers these support videos:

• How To Position A Wasteboard Inside The Cutting Area on the Onefinity CNC
• Flattening A Wasteboard On the Onefinity CNC

By the way, be sure that before flattening the wasteboard, you made the two checks for rectangularity (“squaring”) and coplanarity (that machine is not twisted) (e.g. with the two fishing lines method) as explained here , as flattening the wasteboard can remedy none of them. Especially the check for coplanarity, as the result would be twisted workpieces.

@Aiph5u

the manufacturer suggests this method:

• How To Position A Wasteboard Inside The Cutting Area on the Onefinity CNC
• Flattening A Wasteboard On the Onefinity CNC

It uses a method where you first find the middle of your workarea and then set workpiece zero manually on the middle of the workpiece. But many people don’t like to do this this way, they prefer to do it by using the front left corner of the workarea as the workpiece zero. In this case, you should know where the Cutting area location is.

If you go with the workpiece zero on top left front corner, in this case you might be interested to take care of this.

Also…

@Aiph5u

usually on the Onefinity machines you don’t have to subtract the bit radius when entering the area to surface. If you want to avoid lips and corners, simply enter the entire max. workarea of the machine. When you look at the cutting area location, you see that there is plenty space around the workarea for the additional bit radius so it won’t damage anything outside the workarea.

Also you have to know that you cannot probe XYZ with a surfacing bit. But you can use the method explained in the video instead:

@Aiph5u

Bits compatible with XYZ Probing
Video

Be sure that before you flatten your wasteboard that your machine is checked for rectangularity and coplanarity, because if it is twisted or a parallelogram, flattening the worksurface will not help.

Welcome to the forum!