Good afternoon everyone, greetings from Selkirk Ontario, Canada.
Received my machine last week and tried to surface mu spoil board yesterday. As you can see in the attached picture the front left corner is high, with the rear right corner being slightly higher than the front right.
Any recommendations/suggestions on how best to correct this issue would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Tom T
How much support do you have of the table top underneath? It looks like it’s sagging in the middle. There should be cross pieces to hold it up. Probably at least two. I used 2x4s.
@TomT Welcome aboard, Tom. Users like @paullarson , who has already replied to your question, are the reason that this is great place to learn about your Mill.
In addition to what Paul mentioned, it could be that your MDF has swelled unevenly from the paint you applied. This can be especially true if you used water-based paint. If your spoil board is not well supported, Paul’s advice is a great start. If it is, or after you brace it, simply re-surface in small increments until all the board has been cut.
Thank you Paul for the quick response. The table is built around 9 4x4 posts with a frame to support the centre. On top of this is a sheet of 3/4 inch Baltic Birch, then my 3/4 inch MDF spoilboard. The centre 4x4 post also has a caster on it to help support the middle.
TomT
Thank you gwilki for the quick response.
The paint used for the MDF is Zinsser BIN shellac based primer.
The difference in hight between the left and right sides of the spoil board is not the great. The surfacing bit was just skimming the surface. I was thinking of just resurfacing the spoil board until all areas are surfaced. I think that before I do that I will take some measurements to confirm that the differences are not that great.
TomT
@TomT I think that your approach is a good one, particularly since you have addressed Paul’s concern. I use a lot of that primer and it definitely causes swelling in MDF. If you didn’t prime the underside, it will cause even more distortion. You should be fine, though, simply doing another re-surfacing or two.
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