Re: Possible OT vacuum chuck for CNC?

Hi Mark. I have a small cnc that I use for light machining and
engraving. It was a real pain to use clamps or double sided tape. I
made a simple vacuum plate out of aluminum and it works quite well.
I just posted the pictures on the photo page in the Rick-o-matic
folder. It's about 6x7 inches (my cnc has 4x6 travel) but could be
made up to any size. Mine is 3/8" thick, but should have been more
like 1/2" so I could have drilled larger cross holes! I originally
started with just the small holes to hold the work down, but that
didn't work. Then I generated a diameter for O rings, leaving .005
of the o ring sticking out. That didn't work either... Took out the
o rings and cut a cross from the hole to the o ring groove about .005
deep. Works great!
My Vacuum source is a vacuum pump going to a old freon tank (for -
volume) and a hobbs switch to turn the pump off when it reaches -25"
of vacuum. You will also see some dowel pin holes in the corner for
quick alignment. The lines are .5 apart just as a reference. I duct
tape (use #46879 of the duct tape manual!!!)the holes that are not
covered by your stock. Hope this helps! Rick