Great point
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Sorry to have troubled you
I donāt think that thinking about a flat, stable, smooth work surface that happens not to be aluminum is comparable to reinventing the wheel. I get that you donāt care for the idea, and youāve explained why, and I appreciate that very much. Thank you.
Granite top on table saw is real. It would also be possible for the cnc. Very flat and stable
Lol. First, I would not use granite. However, you could use the tape and super glue method. If we are reinventing the wheel we must explore all possibilities
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@Phil Johnson is the aluminum you used on your wasteboard smooth enough for a suction cup to work? Iām not asking if suction cups would work for clamping. Iām asking about the surface of the aluminum. Is it smooth like class, or comparable insofar as a suction cup would hold to it?
Glass does not flow at room temperature. Thatās a myth that cropped up somewhere and is the bane of materials engineers everywhere trying to explain that no, glass is not merely a very slowly flowing liquid.
I would also strongly recommend using glass as a waste board, due to itās brittle and unforgiving nature. Tempered glass is a little less unforgiving due to the compressive surfaces stresses that are imparted in the material. Unfortunately, the way you get those compressive stresses puts the core of the material under tensile stress. So the moment you get a crack to propagate though the compressive layer, it will reach the tensile layer and start traveling at the speed of sound. In a matter of microseconds, your waste board would be rendered into approximately 1,000,000,000 flying glass particles.
Yep. Sorry. Retracted.
My goal in reinventing the wheel is to figure out a why to have a flat, smooth, stable, and uninterrupted work surface. As you rightly pointed out it would be best not to have a surface that your bit canāt cut.
I have no idea if suction cups will work as hold down devices. If they would work on the aluminum surface, great. If not, Iād have the aluminum in hand and could build a waste board like yours. Iād be out only the cost of whatever suction cups I tried.
Aluminum is the safer experiment. The expense of the suction cups are the only real risk.
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This is most specifically the response I was looking for. The glass itself would be unsafe. I have no interest in that.
I am building my machine on a glass topped kitchen table because that what I have and I am constantly aware of that fact. although I have dropped a few small tools on the table thankfully they hit the cardboard that I have on top. But it IS a constant concern and I canāt see having to constantly worry about dropping something, and you will drop things on your top more than you realize, and having everything go to pieces. It would be one hell of a disaster waiting to happen. To me it would take all the fun out of the process.
Ok, Phil.
I have a granite top on my table saw and it is greatā¦dead flat and heavy as hell ( no vibration in the saw ). I looked at mounting my x-carve on a glass table top but couldnāt come up with a reliable way to bolt it down. I would be worried that the glass would bend between the supports. It will bend a few 1000ās before it breaks.
Some times. and yes tape and superglue will work. If you were to order something like this you could get slots cut into it
I donāt know why youāre taking this waste board thing this serious. It is a āwaste boardā. Must be skimmed, leveled and replaced when need it. This applies to any machine surface waste material. Look after cheapest solution available, enjoy shiney and new surface everytime after replaced.
I use .75" mdf as base and .25" as waste on top of it. Replace thin one every 6 months and shave .75" one once a year before replacing top waste.
Calculate one year WASTE expense and make smart move.
Right, Phil. Thatās the reason I ruled out acrilyc, it would have to quite thick to be stiff enough, and Iād loose the cutting depth.
I understand completely why these things are called wasteboards, but I donāt treat it as a throw away part. I protect it during through cuts, etc. Because of the lack of structure under it, and in part, because of the material itself, the standard, stock wasteboard that comes with the XC will need to be replaced.
I put my machine together in February and it is already not flat. Nothing dramatic yet, but itās days are numbered. Iām not going to skim it, Iām going to fix it, by making its foundation stronger and not intentionally sacricial. The added extrusions and aluminum youāve used are both strong and not intentionally sacricial.
Iāve been convinced that glass isnāt the answer (the reason I started this thread) and may well end up with a setup like yours, which obviously stands on its merits. Win, lose, or draw, whatever I do, Iāll share the results.
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A firm BASE is a good, stone - glass or metal.
On top of this you have a waste board which is, sacrificial 
Mass will reduce vibration and noise, adding mass with a solid that do not bend/shift easily is wise.
Re-skimming the top surface off the waste board should be done periodically, the base remain untouched.
Whatās under your xcarve?
I got a 4āx5ā granite kitchen table for $100 on Craigās list. Luck of the draw thereā¦I worry significantly less about level on the waste board because the frame has a nicer surface to rest on.
it also helps that I am in colorado where we have low humidity year round and I donāt worry as much about msg warping.
Worry about how all the components add up to make your work surface, and worry most about the foundation.
The waste board on a stock X Carve is both structural and sacricial. Not a great design, but itās one of the many reasons it can be offered for the price it is, and I love it; it makes it possible for far more people to get involved.
When I replace it I will add a structural component that is not sacrificial. I tend to use smaller scrap pieces of MDF as my sacricial board. If they get gouged or cut, I toss them. No skimming. This works for me at least.
One reason I want a very smooth, flat surface it that I like to make ink drawings. I have simply put an old large glass table top over my wasteboard and that works great. If I can end up with a surface that meets all my needs and eliminate an extra piece sitting around my shop it may be worth a little experimentation. Weāll see.
I very rarely make through cuts, and thereby seldom use a sacricial board. Itās the underlying wasteboard and structure that needs an upgrade.