Wasteboard take 47

FAQ Wasteboard, Clamps, Flattening Files
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I feels like I’ve put way too much effort into figuring this out, but I think I may have settled on a wasteboard/holddown system that is easy, repeatable, and completely metal free (except for below surface t-track).

  1. Wasteboard. I used .75" MDF cut into 3" wide strips with 7 t-tracks sandwiched between. I cut a very small notch on each strip to allow it to overhang the t-track by about 1/16" inch. This should add some counter-force to the pulling force of the clamps in the t-track. I also used beefier #8 screws instead of the included #6s. I made the wasteboard 30x30 so that I can resurface it and still be able to tile a carve, which I do want to try. By making it smaller I was able to put 2 t-tracks on the outside of the spoilboard for holddowns from the side. I have 3/8" holes drilled all over the wasteboard. The far left and bottom rows are drilled into the plywood torsion box so I used 4" long 3/8" hardwood dowels. They register against the bottom of the box and are supported at the top by the full .75" of the plywood. The holes in the MDF are .6" deep and I use 3/8" dowel jig dowels from Rockler. I cut all the holes .379 to allow for the -.001 to .002 variance in the diameter of the dowels. I can achieve a lot of side clamping pressure by using wedges between the workpiece and the dowels. If I’m using a downcut bit, this is sufficient, especially with the double stick tape, to prevent upward movement of the work piece.

  2. Material holding. My go-to is double-sided tape. it’s really no more expensive than the blue tape/CA glue trick, and it’s a lot safer and less messy. I can buy 3 months worth of double stick tape on Amazon for about $15. I found some nylon 1/4"-20x2" and x3" bolts on Amazon for $7 for 6 each. I bought some nylon 1/4" washers and made wooden knobs and tapped 1/4"-20 threads into them. The obvious goal here is to make it possible to crash into a holddown clamp and not destroy a $30-50 bit. I make the clamps on the CNC or 3D print them. There are a lot of designs out there.

Link to the nylon bolts https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PBA2FY?th=1

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which double stick tape do you use?

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I use https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085C34JMZ?th=1

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Thanks for sharing!
When you can please share a photo or two of work pieces being held in place.
It would help me to visualize, thanks.

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Thanks for sharing, I only ask because you seem to put a lot of thought into the system, why so many dog holes? it seems like many are only 1.5 inches apart, I’m guessing you are using them for something I haven’t thought about.

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I use wedges between the workpiece and dowel pins to aid in clamping.

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