Work holding for non-vacuum tables

[Roehm]

We recently set up our SB Buddy and it's dedicated cyclone dust collector. The Buddy will be used by undergraduate and Graduate students in our Fine Arts program.

What we haven't done is decide on work holding for the various materials we will be cutting. We will have multiple departments with the School of Fine arts using the machine: Ceramics, Sculpture, Expanded Media, Graphic Design...etc. This means we will be cutting wood, acrylic, plaster, and foam. Everything BUT metal. Unfortunately, we do not have a vacuum table. To compound the matter we are not going to be using any metal fasteners as the faculty is concerned that students will cut them and break the tooling and/or hurt themselves. Not that a student has ever done something like that.

The vinyl nails SB recommends seem a little flimsy for work holding; has anyone had success with them? My experience is with manual and CNC mills, so I want to have a Kurt vise and some T-Bolts....which obviously isn't going to happen.

Festool's perforated table tops work great. I have one that was bought new when they were first released in NA. My thought was to replicate the design on an elevated spoil board to take advantage of the Z travel we have.

Any out-of-the-box ideas for work holding that have worked for you?

[Burkhardt]

Not sure if you mean the Raptor nails when you write "vinyl nails" but if so they are not flimsy at all and hold down well, don't break the bits and can be sheared/sanded off. Unfortunately the required Omer nail guns are very expensive.
I use these polymer nails rarely since I do have vacuum but once a while I have parts too small or complex for vacuum pods and then the Raptor nails come handy. At other time I use wood screws, aluminum clamps or whatever works. FWIW, 1/4" bits or bigger can survive a collision with aluminum clamps.

[mclimie]

We have a vacuum table, but I find we were using 23ga pins out of convenience (odd sizes, etc) - if the bit hits a pin, not the end of the world, and they are easy to pull.

However, I ran across this video that changed everything for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub6PsY4cgwg

To be clear, I have extensively used double sided masking tape a lot with some success, but some failure as well. And it's just too expensive. There is often no way to get really good "rub the adhesive into the part/table" contact on one side. You can beat the hell out of it with a mallet and hope you get good contact.

This changes everything, and I'm holding down things (without clamps) that I never would have attempted (see photo attached). That entire block is all of 3.5"x5.75". With the method in the video, you can really work the tape into both the part and the table, then use a medium or thick CA glue to secure the two. The glue makes up for any unevenness in the union where the double sided masking tape failed. And it's way way cheaper even with double the run of tape and a line of glue.

Once the part is done, it takes a rubber mallet to shear it from the table, but the tape just peels right off, no residue on the part or table. Or on larger parts, just use it in the corners, center, whatever.

Marc

IMG_2959 1.jpg

[knight_toolworks]

I use transfer tape over the regular tape as iti s much wider though I wish It stuck better. usually I throw the parts in a vacuum bag to make sure they are stuck together.

[curtiss]

I have a number of 17/64 holes that go through the table on 5 1/2 inch centers. For small signs I drill a few holes in the bottom of the work-piece at say 11 inches. Thread as desired.

I use a proper length lag bolt to "pull the piece" down. As long as you stay above or beside the bolts it is fine. Entire upper surface is free to cut. Beginners can use a nylon threaded bolt ...

[Ken Sully]

A friend told me about this and it works great! No more clamps,screws,naile or need of a vacuum. Take a look give it a try and let me know how it works for you


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uTsQ3dYRrk