Mill SMALL Parts on a GIANT CNC Vacuum Table

[@OakHillMillworks]

Mike that was incredible! I’m thoroughly impressed with all that went into that programming. 😮

[@WoodshopMike]

There was a fair bit that went into the programing, but it was a pretty fun process to learn! The biggest hurdle for me was just getting through the proof of concept that I could concentrate the vacuum from the table down to a smaller fixture and actually have enough force to hold the items in place.

[@skrfindley]

This is really helpful -- I have a Shopsabre Pro 408 and want to make a lot of smaller parts on it, and have been pretty intimidated by the process, so I really appreciate this video

[@WoodshopMike]

So glad it was helpful! If you hit any snags just leave me a comment here, happy to help👊👊

[@T0tenkampf]

very cool idea, I wasn't sold on a vac table for my cnc build until seeing how easy the smaller jigs can be

[@WoodshopMike]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful and hopefully gave you some ideas!😀

[@randomrouting]

Nice! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@WoodshopMike]

Absolutely! Glad it was helpful 👍😃

[@11SecSTionStockSnail]

Wouldn’t 4th axis work better for you in these type of scenarios?

[@JohnDoe-u3b]

Do you have a link for the gasket material?

[@WoodshopMike]

Sure thing! This is the gasketing material I used: bit.ly/4b7WxHp

[@RCjunkie]

I have a ShopBot too 96"x 48"

[@WoodshopMike]

Oh right on! 👏👏

[@acerjuglans383]

Can you tell me what your grid gasket is made ftom, and its dimensions?

[@WoodshopMike]

The gasket is 1/4" x 1/4" and it has an adhesive strip on one side. It's from All-Star CNC.

[@pjaromin]

Thank you much for this! I'm looking to do something very similar for my builds and this is very helpful. My only question is it appears that you put the ply over your regular MDF spoilboard, correct? I assume you cut the bleeder hole straight through the fixture ply and the MDF spoilboard to expose the port on the vacuum bed. If that's the case, then did you subsequently have to plug the hole in the spoilboard after this project, after your removed the fixture? I'd like to be able to easily flip back and forth between the fixture and the spoilboard but I would think that once you put a bleeder hole in your spoilboard, you're going to lose the vacuum pulling through the rest of it. Though would suck to have to switch spoilboards or swap a huge 4x8 sheet of (heavy) MDF every time. Hopefully that makes sense. If so, how did you deal with this? Thanks again for a great and very helpful video.

[@WoodshopMike]

So glad this was helpful! To answer your question, there's not a bleeder hole in the MDF spoil board. Not sure what vacuum setup you have, but my pump pulls vacuum through the MDF spoil board. When I use this jig I isolate the vacuum to just one zone and the gasket on the bottom of my jig creates a seal. The bleeder holes are only in my jigs. Hope that clears it up! Let me know if you have any other questions👍👍

[@jarominguitars]

@@WoodshopMike Thanks for the reply! I'm very happy to hear that. I just upgraded to a 4x8 with a 7.5HP vacuum...however I haven't finished setting it up yet. Will mainly be pumping out parts with a setup similar to yours, however I do occasionally still want to remove the fixtures and cut full sheets, etc. So good to know that it's at least worth a try. Hopefully my setup will work as well as yours. Thanks again...this definitely helped me out!

[@WoodshopMike]

Excellent! So glad it was helpful👊

[@RCjunkie]

I love to make a guitar for a friend on mine

[@WoodshopMike]

They're fun to make!

[@winywohlwend]

Mike, very impressive! Which vacuum pump do you use?

[@WoodshopMike]

Thank you. I'm using a Becker pump.

[@winywohlwend]

@@WoodshopMike Hey Mike, May I ask you which model it is?

[@WoodshopMike]

Sure thing! On the label for "type" it says VTLF2.250/0-79 mine is running off a VFD

[@winywohlwend]

@@WoodshopMike THX!! I see it's one of the big ones...

[@WoodshopMike]

Oh goodness yes! I assembled the machine around the pump 🤣