Comments on: CNC Spoil Board Art

By: Routering Materials CNC

Routering Materials CNC — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:07:23 +0000

[...] MAKE | CNC Spoil Board Art A spoil board is sacrificial material that’s used underneath the material you want to cut on a CNC machine. This… http://blog.makezine.com/ [...]

By: phidauex

phidauex — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:45:47 +0000

While it is true that MDF is not entirely non-toxic, it’s material properties make it very useful to CNC operators. And in large amounts and frequent exposures, no wood dust is safe either (and many natural wood dusts are more hazardous than MDF, like Cocobolo) and anyone doing regular woodworking should have a solid dust collection system and be using an N95 respirator when working heavily with wood dust.

By: phidauex

phidauex — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:43:40 +0000

Yes, it definitely works! There is also a less-commonly available Low Density Fiberboard which is like “puffier” MDF which transmits vacuum even better. And the best part about a vacuum is that you don’t need much air-flow – just good (negative) pressure, and enough airflow to replace what is leaked.

By: Michael Colombo

Michael Colombo — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:36:28 +0000

Yes I have tried it, and it works quite well. Keeps the workpiece right in place.

By: Daniel McCauley

Daniel McCauley — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:18:04 +0000

A vacuum pull air through mdf? Have you tried this? I think you’d be very disappointed at the volume of air you get. Now water on the other hand…

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:04:17 +0000

I could see a coffee table made from this, or filling the various lines with colored resin.
But I second Anton’s thought crop circles.

By: JimO

JimO — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:51:49 +0000

Indeed, both fine and fuzzy are the lines that define truly satirical trash-art, art w/ found objects, and actual garbage. What you use and how you use it can’t really determine whether what you produce can or can’t be considered art.

By: jamesbx

jamesbx — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:27:05 +0000

I find any number of scraps in my shop that could be considered art: snips of molten colored glass, (I call them) backer boards from the CNC mill and drill press, curious globs of metal spit from my abrasive cutoff saw, a ball of rebar wire, the colorful cleanup rag from airbrushing. I used to keep these things. And not to sound mean spirited, but at some point I realized it isn’t art, it is hoarding garbage. To me, mounting and photographing a piece of visually interesting trash is a satire of art, more than actual art. But it is a free country, and they are kind of interesting to look at.

By: Anton Christopher McInerney

Anton Christopher McInerney — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:53:07 +0000

Do exact replications of the Crop Circles using this method!

By: JimO

JimO — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:55:14 +0000

Yeah, we’ve been considering similar things with our spoil board; shop furniture, coasters, or as shown here, wall art. I dig the placement of the light and the contrast it brings to the piece.

It’s fun to look back at a spoil board and try to identify past projects by the shapes they’ve left behind.

If work slows down enough, we’ll definitely hack something up and post it on Flickr.