The Shapeoko Forum

Hi All,

Went out to the C3D shop in California this week to do some R&D and hang out with the rest of the crew. Plus, it's very cold in IL right now, so if nothing else - seeing the sun was a nice change of pace!

Anyway - we had some fun yesterday using Carbide Create to design a vacuum table we've been talking about for a long time now. The entire thing can be cut with a 1/4" square endmill.
Between designing, cutting, and gluing the project took a couple of hours. The results were good.
After using the table for a couple of jobs I have some ideas to make it better
- putting locating holes on the top and bottom to better line them up when glueing
- putting inserts into the bottom so the top is easily replaceable
- putting holes in the side that match up with the aluminum table holes

Using a regular shopvac produced enough pull to hold down a sheet of acrylic (which I accidentally cut all the way through as you can see in the pictures...). Later in the day I masked off a good part of the table with masking tape and engraved on a piece of renshape, which also worked very well.
If you're interested in making one of your own, here are the c2d files (one for top, one for bottom) Here is the flanged adapter I used: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AX5 ... detailpage

If you do make one of your own, send us a picture (sales@carbide3d) with the subject of 'vacuum table'. if you're one of the first 10 pictures we get, we'll send you a free 1/4" cutter for being awesome.

That looks interesting. I've recently been mucking around with other vacuum stuff, but haven't tried making a vacuum table yet. Might give that a shot.

With the c2d files... is that the file extension used by Carbide Create? Doing Googling for c2d, the only results are for a disk image program which makes no sense in this context.

This is really cool, Edward. Thanks for sharing. I need a bigger machine before it makes sense for me to build a vacuum table though... I'm crossing my fingers for a 2'x4' S3 option!

Awesome! I'd love to see it in action, any videos?

I was also kind of curious, if your material doesn't cover all the holes, is it still effective?

Vacuum cleaners need to draw in air for cooling don't they? If that's the case, then a completely air tight solution might blow it up?

If not, then something like Neoprene rubber might work for covering up the holes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FF5RSB4

I downloaded the zip, looks like just the bottom file was included.

Bottom done!

Here is the top file I come up with based on the bottom

Your base looks good.

One of these days I'll try out Carbide Create. Today isn't that day though.

Link to photo album https://goo.gl/photos/aMwuevWKJGHRobc69

edwardrford wrote:
After using the table for a couple of jobs I have some ideas to make it better
- putting locating holes on the top and bottom to better line them up when glueing
- putting inserts into the bottom so the top is easily replaceable
- putting holes in the side that match up with the aluminum table holes

I'm going to try and glue it up with a piece of paper in between. My thought is you should be able to easily pry off the top when putting a new sheet on. I cut a small dado to fit onto the front plate of the SO3. This has the benefit of always placing the vacuum table on the machine square, and helps with torsion. I use the 3m double sided tape to attach everything to the spoilboard Not all of us have a fancy aluminum board When are those going on sale by the way?