Just wondering....
What does everyone use as a cake board for your 2nd and 3rd tier??
I always use foam board on bottom and a store bought cake board for 2nd tier. Seems like foam board would be too thick and cause a big gap between the two cakes, if I use it on the 2nd tier, but a cake board doesn't really seem stable enough, especially if I go higher.
U've used foam board & it's ok. The best way imho, is to make it the exact size of your cake & just frost/fondant over it as well. If you're using the 1/2" I think this would be the only way you could really go. Cutting it slightly smaller than the cake does work ok with the 3/16th, your border should cover any small amount of gap there might be.
Foam core. And I keep several degrees of width on hand for making borderless tiers. One cake tier sits on it's own foam core, then while icing, on another one to allow icing to extend past the original board. When done, chill, and pop off of the second board, and you have a completely border free, no edge showing tier.
Get a cake lifter, or a long spatula, a hamburger flipper, anything like that....use that to push your cake around until it reaches the edge of whatever it is on, then slide your fingers underneath, and you can pick it up without touching the edges.
Well if I have a cake board the is exactly the size as my 2nd tier cake and then I ice it all the way around it, when I grab it with my fingers or even a cake lifter, the icing gets messed up. I tried using like a cake lifter and it was fine until I pulled it out and then the icing went with it. It was a nightmare. Maybe if I keep practicing I'll get better at it. A border would help with that, but I've see cakes that don't have borders that have a perfect line between the bottom cake and the 2nd tier.
Chill each tier individually, then try to move it around, and always "fingers under the cake". Push the cake with the lifter, pull it towards you, until it is at the ledge of something (table, turntable, refrigerator shelf), and slide it out on top of your hand. I can do this, and stack a cake without ever touching the sides of the cake. It's always chilled though, helps a lot.
I make sure my dowels are the right height, then leave them sticking up an inch or so. I have room to pull my fingers out and the weight of the cake pushes the dowels down into the tier below. I still have an 'oops' sometimes, but it is much better than it used to be. 
If you can get them the perfect height, then have them right at the top or even a hair above. You don't really want your tier to sit IN the tier below it. If they are too high, you are going to end up with a gap and have to cut your dowels down some more.
I get my foam board at Hobby Lobby. I'm sure Michael's has it too. At my Hobby Lobby, it is in the section with art materials, close to the frames and mats. It comes in a large piece and you do have to cut it. I use a hobby knife and cut through in 2-3 steps. I have seen an online site (sorry, but I don't remember which one it is) that sells the foam board precut. It is also advertised as being food safe, so that might be an easier way to search for it. HTH.
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