I am in the process of building a vacuum table based on two Imperial vacuum motors working in parallel. Like some others here, I am not too fond of the heat issues which go with pumps in series.
I want to build a multi-purpose plenum board with fixed vac openings. The following modification of the usual four or five zone table has occured to me (perhaps inspired by Stan's card valve 9-15. Imagine a 4 x8 table with parallel zones running the entire length of say the short axis. These zones could be subdivided 3/8 square strips of HMWPE milled into the table before the grid is cut. The could then be optionally slid out a fraction to cut vacuum to unneeded areas?
any thoughts?
Sorry, no CAD drawing yet.