Hello All!

My name is Chris Swiger and I have a DIY 6'x13' Large Format CNC. I have gotten a lot of information on here in regards to the setup of my vacuum bed, and I wanted to say thank you and also offer a modification of my own that others going forward might want to add to their table.

I have an open plenum grid for my vacuum bed, and it works wonderfully.

I use two large valves to control the two major zones. The closest valve to you controls the right side larger zones, and the farther valve controls the 12" wide zones on the left of the table.



Here is where I did things differently than everyone else. Since I did not want to spend $150 in valves for all 10 zones I consolidated them into sides. How I manage it past that is instead of putting the 2" pipe up through the table, I used a 2" coupling up into the table that allows for two things. It allows me to cheaply decide which zones have vacuum as well as the ability to make custom vacuum solutions for one off projects. I will have an example of this in the next couple of weeks, but it works really, really well from initial tests.



The first major use for this is vacuum forming. I can put a box with a bottom opening that plumbs into the 2" coupling and pull vacuum molds with this very easily.

The other major use is to have a box that has interchangeable for custom holding jigs for guitars, fretboards, etc.

I hope you all find this as a useful post.

Have to thank everyone that started the 9-15 vacuum and that made modifications to that design that helped me make this a reality.

Chris Swiger
Owner
33 Degrees East WoodWorking