Gerber 408 CNC Spoil/Waste Board Tips?

[dexproduktion]

Hey!

I have a 408 Gerber with vaccuum board, as for now the original waste/spoil board is pretty much non existent, it's like 1-2mm left and many places the bare alu boards under are shown.
So! It's about time to get it changed, I've read a lot of people using MDF without even routing the pattern for the suction holes.
I do understand that sealing the edges of the mdf will help but my primary question is how to move on.
Should I peel the original plastic board including the glue of and clean it up and at the same time fix possible damages in the boards or just put the mdf over it as it is?
Also, how should I fixate the mdf boards? I would rather not use adhesive all over the boards as the originals again. Could it a be a good idea to use adhesive strips of like 10mm like a frame around each panel on the board to also have a sealed edge towards the table top?

Kind Regards
Jimmie, Sweden

 

[John Miller]

Adhesive is not necessary. Fly cut the new MDF on both sides to remove the shiny surface, then seal the edges, buy a box of canning wax at the grocery store, heat about a foot of edge with a heat gun and run the wax block over the edge, do the entire perimeter. The spoil board will stay in place by the suction of the vac hold down.

 

[litewave]

I used 'trendy grey pvc' on one of my small format engraving machines and skimmed it. Not a total fan of MDF as a material but understand might be useful on vacuum tables...

 

[johnnysigns]

On our old Gerber we stripped the PVC OEM bed and double sided tape for high density MDF that we glued down using a construction adhesive. We then ran the drill pattern w/out pockets through the dense MDF. On occasion we'd put a low density MDF spoil board on top if we needed a heavy through cut into the spoil board. We favored the high density MDF as the primary spoil board because it's proved to swell much less in higher humidity. All the MDF we used we got from Harbor Sales if it's helpful.