Folks -
My Father in Law and kluged together a bastardized vaccum hold down setup after reading about using refridgerator compressors here on the forum. Boy oh Boy!
We took a compressor and an old surplus propane tank to use as a vacuum reservoir along with a few fittings. It easily pulls over 25" of mercury and I can't budge my workpieces... Rose and I hadn't yet used it, we were still just toying with it, but today we tried it out.
Our total investment in the whole shebang is under $20 in fittings and vacuum hose. The parts are held rock solid - we did some v carving and just swapped out each workpiece as we finished - no screws, no clamps, no bridges (I donn got to chsow you no steenkeeen briges!) I put registration marks on the corners of the vacuum puck, lined everything up and off we went.
The set-up is SO simple, I'd encourage everyone to give it a go... I can post pics of the setup if anyone wants (or email). It isn't pretty, but works like a charm.
Cheers,
John Moorhead
Lakeport, CA