How Thin Should You Wear Your Spoilboard?

When should you swap out your worn vacuum spoilboard for a new one? CNC operators report their experiences regarding minimum spoilboard thicknesses. May 23, 2007

Question
How thin should you allow a spoil board to get before you replace it? We started with 3/4 MDF and we're down to about 9/16ths now. It holds down better the thinner we go, but I would assume at some point we will need to change it.

Forum Responses
(CNC Forum)
From contributor F:
I start with 1/2 and go to 3/8, so you can go awhile.

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From contributor S:
When you get too thin you lose a lot of vacuum around any exposed areas of the spoilboard, so holding small parts can be harder. But you can counter this by covering the exposed areas with scraps, plastic, or whatever.

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From contributor T:
The thinner the better. I have seen people go to around .25".

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From contributor C:
I had a major problem with a thin 3mm spoilboard in that the suction from the vacuum to remove chips lifted the spoil board up and damaged the job as it moved all over the place. I stick to 6mm.