Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Vacuum table

I haven't tried it but from what I've read porous hold down boards are used by
guys who cut out plywood frames for the furniture manufacturing industry.
It's very inefficient - you need a huge vacuum pump to overcome the
resistance to airflow through the MDF, so I think the table is zoned up with
valves controlled with a local PLC which monitors the spindle position and
closes off all the other zones, in order to keep the pump size down. The
pumps are huge and expensive because they deal with a 4 by 8 sheet of board.
There an outfit in Langley BC that sells routers using it (Pacific Technology
or some name like that) You could also check out a website named ' Woodweb' -
that's where I first heard of it.
cheers,
Denis Casserly

On August 14, 2005 03:21 pm, davegsc@... wrote:
> A couple of years ago, I read somewhere that MDF is porous enough that
> you can provide a vacuum right through it with a ShopVac - no need to
> drill millions of holes in your bed.
>
> If that's true, that would make it easy to replace sacrificial surfaces.
>
> Anyone tried this?
>
> Dave
>
>

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