Hold Down Methods

[jdwykrent]

I posted a version of this in the "Shopbot in Schools" section but I thought I would ask you guys as well.

I have 125ish students per day in my woodworking classes. We do a small cutting board project in Beginning Woodworking (sizes vary because mistakes are made). Advanced Woodworking courses make a RTA table 1st semester and a self designed project 2nd semester. They can use the Bot for anything they want...

So my struggle, how to hold down a bunch of different projects. I do not have a vac table and don't know if that would solve the problem... I guess I'm looking for suggestions.

[Brian Harnett]

I made for my bot vacuum boxes similar to pods its a hollow box about 2 1/2 inches I mount on the table and hook my fien vac to the top has a hole and shallow dado cuts surrounded with gasket tape, I have several different sizes, works well for me, and is simple would work fine for cutting boards.

[jdwykrent]

I've done that... I like it. I just need to refine mine. Modular is what I need.

[feinddj]

I use my vac table, dedicated vac fixtures screwed down to that table, screws, or wedges. The wedges are quick and easy and hold quite well. Screws work if you know that they are going to be out of the way and you have enough waste on your project to accommodate them. I make vac fixtures using hard vacuum from a venturi generator. I get scraps of UMHW or nylon from a plastics supplier. I have also used plexiglass.

David

[Joe Porter]

I usually use screws like the Kreg Jig kind. If I need a lot of screws in the middle of the work where I am not sure if they will clear or not, I go ahead and design the screw locations into my work area and secure around the outer part and let my cutter take a light cut to show the screw locations, then secure and cut away. If the outer corner screws are going to be tight, I draw them also and get exact measurements from the drawing and mark these on my work piece with a ruler and pencil and set these before cutting...joe

[gundog]

How about using sheets of plywood cut to fit the table top screw the projects to the plywood. Remove the plywood for the next class they would also have their own plywood sheet for their projects. I would use the bot to scribe a measurement somewhere on the plywood for getting the machine zeroed again when sheets are changed,

The project sheets could have T slot clamping extrusions or just screw down each project to the sheet on the cheap.

Mike