Spoilboard recommendations

[dubliner]

No, spoil board only, plan on doing mostly aluminum with a misting system, that's why I though of a plastic - very hard poly foam material that would be impervious to moisture but would have some of the same properties as MDF, namely ability to hold a screw.

[dana_swift]

Hey Neville-

I have been experimenting with using 1/2" HDPF (Home Depot Pink Foam), its working so far, my intention was to get more experience with it and then write a thread on the forum about it. Your unique need has caused me to write about my experiments before I was prepared to tell the world!

The water resistant aspect of it is not important to me, but it would be for your application!

I have used HDPF both as a table spoil board material and as a vacuum plenum/spoilboard. It is not porous so does not act as a bleederboard, but I have this amazing CNC machine that can cut a really nice array of holes in it really fast! Its just foam.. its so inexpensive it makes replacing it a non-issue.

It does compress slightly from the weight of the material being cut, or from the vacuum force of the Becker pump. But its stable at that "squish" value. I just do my zzero after a few seconds of vacuum and the results have been good up to about 0.020" of flat. Its not perfect, but at that price its handles most of my applications.

So.. my two cents worth is "give HDPF a try" you might be surprised and how well it works! It gouges easy, which is one down side, but at that price.. just shave another layer off and keep going!

D

[knight_toolworks]

what aluminum are you cutting that need misting? air cooling may be much easier.

[dubliner]

I inch 6061.