Hey guys new to the group. I have a Biesse Rover A.....which unfortunately one of my operators caught on fire. End up burning through the spoil board and melted about a 2'X2' place on the phenolic table. Have you guys ever had to repair a table? 17000 to replace ...with a two month lead time. Need to get her running until new table arrives. Any help or suggestions would be awesome.
I would suggest filling just the damaged area with an epoxy laminating resin (NOT casting resin) and re-cutting all the grooves.
Epoxy can be somewhat brittle without any reinforcement, so straight epoxy probably isn't a good idea. I would add some fillers in the form of milled fibers. I have found milled carbon fiber to be available and inexpensive. Fiberglass fibers are fine too if available, just heavier. Some people like to add "fumed silica", but that just add tiny air pockets to the epoxy and is intended to turn thin epoxy into a putty, so they don't add strength.
You can ask the seller for advice, but I would recommend a slow hardener. This is because the epoxy will be applied fairly thick. I would probably plan on doing multiple layers too. The problem with epoxy is it is exothermic, so it creates heat as it cures. And the thicker it is, the more heat it creates. But doing a couple layers and using a slow hardener should prevent any problems from coming up.
For the repair process, I would start by identifying the extent of the damage. Then I would build a temporary barrier around the affected area--including perimeter areas that may be warped. If there are holes through the bottom, for vacuum or from the fire, they need to be patched. too.
I would use strips of corrugated plastic sheet for the barrier. And hot glue should work to hold it in place. I have a 3M "high temperature" glue gun that works really well for this kind of thing...but be warned that not all glue guns are created equal! Also, expect to use a lot of glue, like a surprising amount.
(I'm suspicious of the readily available glue gun options. I've seen lots of youtube videos where guys glue together resin molds using lower temp glue guns, only to have them leak. But in this situation, and if you add fibers to the resin, the fibers will thicken the resin, reducing the chance of epoxy leaking, even if there are gaps/ cold joints.)
Maybe that's more than you were looking for, but I it is totally doable. I'd personally be a lot more concerned about re-cutting the bed after the repair than with the repair itself.
I think a repair like this, if done well, would be good enough that you don't need to replace the phenolic.
