# spoil board design



## case1470 (Jul 24, 2013)

I am working in a production shop cutting 3/4 plywood for furniture framing, I was wanting your opinion on spoil board design. We use 9mm birch for our spoil board and have vacuum holes through the birch to hold the parts down. What is the optimal size holes in your spoil board. Currently we use 1" holes. Are smaller holes or bigger hole more effective.

Thank You


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Welcome to the forum.


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## rwbaker (Feb 25, 2010)

There is no optimal size as the size is dependent upon the total vacum available / total area of the holes - what you are looking for is the greatest holding power and surface prep, area of holes and the weight of the machined object are all to be cosidered.

A good primer is https://www.onsrud.com/plusdocs/Doc...9AF5F27C669529A75949AEEB89?model.code=TECH024.

hope this helps - Baker


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## case1470 (Jul 24, 2013)

cutting 3/4 ac plywood, no gasket, good sized vacuum pump looking for best holding power. cut rate is 600 in/min with slowdown in corners. 1/2 rougher bit


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## fixtureman (Jul 5, 2012)

We use MDF no holes if we can get it we like ultralight MDF. We just surface both sides and pull vac through it.


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## sawdust57 (Mar 7, 2013)

fixtureman said:


> We use MDF no holes if we can get it we like ultralight MDF. We just surface both sides and pull vac through it.


+1. same thing I do.


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## Dr_Esoteric (Jul 3, 2013)

fixtureman said:


> We use MDF no holes if we can get it we like ultralight MDF. We just surface both sides and pull vac through it.


+1 as well. We use MDF and surface mill both sides prior to use. The result is a perfectly even spoil board.


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