Yepp, the eagle has landed 
Only thing you would lose that is on the pcb is the PWM and digital on/off for spindle control
I wish Iād thought to do something like that for the wiring when I built my torsion box.
All these great ideas AFTER Iāve finished making my bench ā¦
I have a power board that Iāll mount under the bench for the computer/monitor and controller. The router power cord wonāt be long enough so it will have to go in a wall socket which is mounted about 1.5 metres above the ground. Iāll also have to arrange power for the wireless router, another power board.
Youāre right, all benches are a work in progress 
Makerslide! \o/
On my torsion box, I used poly but not water based, something cheap I had on hand.
For the top though, itās just waxed surface. I waxed one piece of the MDF for building the internal structure of the torsion box (glue doesnāt stick to wax) and decided it was too much trouble to clean off to apply poly.
I donāt expect any problems even though I live by the water.
Do you intend to measure the flatness of your torsion box? Iād be interested in how flat youāve been able to make it.
As long as itās relatively flat and your X-Carve is secured to it well in a few areas, you should be able to flatten your wasteboard and count on that being flat enough for your work. Use shims as necessary.
I built the first torsion box on a large bench (2400x1200) with a half sheet of 18mm MDF on top. I made the MDF level with shims. My second torsion box for a smaller CNC I have, is flat because I could use the first torsion box to make it.
While totally flat would be nice, Iām not sure that it matters (within reason) for the X-Carve. What you want there is nice stiff surface that wonāt flex under use. You can always shim the X-Carve to level.
Speaking of shimming, Iām off to the CNC workshop to try and get the spoil board level.
Anymore update Angus???
What he said 
Looks very promising! Love the Y-axis extension. Yesterday, I had to tap a bunch of holes to thread #8ās from aluminum into stainless. Ughā¦
Wow. I am as exited to see your xcarve assembled as I was to build mine. Get to it man. Lol
Hi Angus,
You can always tell a true engineerā¦tapping, rather than using self tappersā¦I loved reading your postā¦it was extremely informative!!!
Thank you so much!!
All the very best
Dave
Thatās what you needed the dog for! Some people have warning dogs that they are about to have a seizure, you need a lubricant mishap warning dog!
I tapped my makerslide as well - it made a huge difference even with the thread assist screws. I plan on replacing those bolts with longer normal M5 x 20mm bolts. Using Loctight blue with them really tightened up the gantry and prevents any slippage.
This is what Frank did for his CNC build. Start at about 7:10.
On my S2, I used pieces of alum. angle screwed to the front and rear cross pieces and screwed those down to a 3/4 inch cabinet ply after assuring squareness. Then added spoil board support braces.
John
Edit: If you have access to a machine shop, squaring cuts is best done on a milling machine.
Edit 2:
Oh, please excuse my bad manners! Merry Christmas to one and all, and to all a very Happy New Year.
Keep generating sawdust. ;>)
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Seeing you only have a few cuts to make, why not find a local machine shop or aluminium fabricator to do them? At this time of year, a case of beer is often ample payment.
I found that on my X-Carve, once I had the base extrusions squared up (measure diagonally), screwing them down to the spoil board kept them aligned.
Merry Christmas to those still enjoying it.
Looking awesome, Iām in the process of rebuilding mine, Iām reinforcing the base but nowhere near close as yours, I canāt wait to see it working.