Alright everyone so I want to catalog my attemp at building a vacuum table for my larger machine (4x8) but the same concepts will apply if you want to make one for your x-carve
I am going to start out by making a small test piece and use that as a proof of concept
here is my progress so far
next step is to apply glue and water mixture to seal everything
Looks nice! How long did that take?
Also – can you explain how it will work? What is the purpose of the channels? Will you apply peg board to the top?
so basically here is the design that I am following
you will have a lower base board mine will be a solid piece just to hold pvc inlet pipe and give the plenum a ridgid mounting surface
then I will have the plenum as pictured above that contains all the vacuum channels
then on top of that I will have a bleeder board glued to the top of the plenum and this will have about .100" skim off the top and bottom and your material will get sucked down through it because the mdf is actually really pour us
and carve away!
How stiff will it be? Do you expect the wasteboard to flex when the suction is on?
the bleeder board flexing?
It should not flex at all as its going to be glued to the plenum in this set-up so basically you will have 3 pieces of 3/4" mdf glued together and so it should be extremely rigid
if I was going to use a gasket design then yes the bleeder or spoil board would flex but you want it to flex and make a good seal around the gasket but for this I dont think I want to use a gasket as I will just skim it completely of if I need to replace the bleeder board for some reason
I really wish that I could get my hands on some LDF to use as the bleeder board as that would flow a little better sense I dont have a proper vacuum pump
I think a dust collector should have sufficient volume, the larger the area the less negative pressure you need to hold it.
That’s just it though a dust collector is not designed to pull a vacuum with negative pressure the only thing that semi works is a high end shop vac and even that will melt down because there is no airflow through the motor
@RobertCanning
You know I thought the very same thing
But I have done countless hours of research on this subject and I could not find 1 person that did it lol
Plus I don’t think a dust collector would work for the full-size 4x8 version of this
I might try it with this little one
For the full-size version I plan on using 4 or 6 lighthouse brand 220v vacuum motors I have talked to a few cabinet shops that have had great success with these motors
really?
Depends on brand of shopvac. Matthias Wandel flushed his Shop-Vac ™ impeller out with a water hose because motor was isolated from the collection part of the vacuum.
ahh I see yeah I know alot of people have been using the fein shop vacs and they last for a couple months but eventually all the shops vacs seems to melting down
maybe there is something else behind it as well as the air flow
Really. Vacuum table/ wasteboard
hmmmm interesting thread for sure I guess yeah that would work great for a small vacuum table
when you where cutting items on it did you ever have things move on you?
maybe that would work great for like a sanding area where you need the piece to be held down and the dust taken away
I bet that would work like a down draft table but with more holding power
Another suggestion, you can skim another 6mm MDF to use on top off it, filters dust plus you can protect glued MDF surface from scratcing. Also I was waching youtube video sometime ago, guy just reversed air compressor to use it as an vacuum pump. (Not using air intake, just flipping air valves).Maybe gives you some idea. Cheers.
I am new to cnc. Have some challenges with cutting 1/8 plywood. Looking to build a vacuum table. Also have some issues cutting mdf cleanly. Would you be willing to share your .dxf for the plenum and what bit you use? Upcut, downcut, compression or ballnose.
Thanks
It holds flat thin items without issue. Fortunately I only use clamps 50% to 60% on the materials I cut now.
