Wasteboard thickness?

Just got my Woodworker and reading the online assembly manual. First, the instructions differ from the CNC Assembly video that Onefinity posted on YouTube (no biggie, but different sequence of steps). My question is – I’m finalizing my table design and the instruction manual says something I haven’t seen anyone (like Ben Myers, etc.) mention at all - so I’m assuming I can pass on this instruction:

For maximum stiffness it is recommended that you build up your wasteboard to a thickness of 2-1/2”- 3”. This will still give you approximately 3” of gantry clearance while reducing the moment force on the Router, Z-Slider and X-Rail parts. When building up your wasteboard to this thickness please ensure you use the Z-Sliders top mounting holes.

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Hey Michael… Yes you can pass on this… Most users go with a 3/4" MDF wasteboard. Hope this helps. Talk soon…

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Thanks for your quick reply.

But is there any benefit to making the waste board a thickness of 2-1/2 - 3 inches?

Only advantage that comes to mind for me is it would allow you to resurface it more times before it needs to be replaced. But if you are asking “structurally” then I would say that is way thinker than needed.

-Alex

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In addition to what Alex mentioned, it also enables you to mount the Z axis at the center location. With a thinner wasteboard, you may end up mounting the Z axis at the bottom location & running towards the bottom of your Z travel. Not a huge deal, but it just does not lend itself to ideal operating geometry.

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