I am new to CNC machining and I was wondering your alls thoughts… The waste board is very expensive for the X Carve. Do you all put something under what your cutting if you plan on cutting all the way through the material so you don’t harm your expensive waste board? I was thinking about using the waste board for lining up and keeping an appropriately sized piece of material under my project so it wouldn’t damage the waste board. Thoughts?
Great question @DerekJordan you have a couple options here.
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You can put a “sacrificial” layer of wood or MDF or some other material on top of the waste board to carve into each time so you don’t ruin the waste board. That is a perfectly acceptable approach.
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You can make your own replacement waste board with MDF you source locally. We sell the threaded inserts separately for that purpose. This will save on shipping and the cost but you won’t have the silk screen grid and you will have to have it cut down to the right size. Sometimes they will do it for you at a building supply store.
Does anyone have pictures of what they have done in the past?
Its always recommended to put something under the material you are milling, especialy if your cutting through the material.
The waste board was developed for this purpose, but they wont survive in the long run and the waste board from inventables are to pretty to mess up 
I recommend that you use the waste board to clamp down the material you are milling and a piece of wood underneath the material to protect the waste board.
Thank you both for the replies!! Can’t wait for my X Carve to get here!
If you are making your own waste board, can the X Carve drill all of the holes in the grid pattern itself (if I set it up as an Easel file?) Are the holes all within the operating area of the cutter?
Not all of the holes are in the range of the cutting head. If you want to drill all of the holes that are in the silkscreen file marked into the part layer, then you may need to get creative about how you move the waste board to get to all of the holes.
Thank you… I don’t mind missing out on a row or two, or alternatively, drilling the last couple by hand.
Do you know off the top of your head which holes aren’t available?
It looks like the outer ring of holes. The very front ones, the far back ones, and the columns on the far right and left.
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I am sort of new to this cnc thing. I say sort of because I had a laser cutting business for 10 years. Similar in many ways but I never had to deal with the waste board issue. Maybe my way isn’t for everyone but I only used the original waste board for a template. I get MDF cheap for the shop so I pre - cut and drill several. It only takes about 15 minutes if I decide to put in all the inserts. It also eliminates one more thing that can move on me and I don’t lose z travel. Worrying about messing up a pretty table will limit your creativity.
Do you set your wood thickness true when using a scrap board or do you add the thickness of the scrap board to the good piece?
Set it true so the bit just barely grazes the scrap board.