On the CNC in my shop, I don’t have pop-up pins to quickly set a 4 x 8 sheet in place. My low-tech alternative is to adapt the spoilboard to perform this task.

 

The solution I came up with is to program the  CNC tool to go around the outside of the spoilboard to engrave a line. I use a 60-degree V-bit, cutting about about 1/16-inch deep on the X and Y perimeter.

 

Then I surface the spoil board to clean up the line. This makes it much easier to precisely locate sheets on the router, and it’s good for a few spoil board surfacings before I have to do it again.Tips like these are routinely shared among the Cabinet Makers Association. I'm a member, and so is David Buchsbaum, who will bring moderate a live session of CNC Tips & Tricks April at the Cabinets & Closets Conference near Chicago. The event includes a plant tour and free admission to Cabinets & Closets Expo April 12-13. 

 

Two parallel business tracks – a Closets Conference, “Growing a Profitable Business,” and a “Lean Management Conference” conducted by the Center for Lean Learning – are also being offered. Registrants for any of the tracks may elect to attend any of sessions in any of the three tracks.

 

The Cabinets Conference includes lunch, refreshment breaks, a plant tour and free admission to Cabinets & Closets Expo, which follows on April 12-13. The events take place at the Renaissance Conference Center & Hotel, in Schaumburg, Illinois, near Chicago. The Cabinet Conference track was developed in partnership with the CMA, and a number of its members are presenting.