Stack cutting Masonite?

[ron_churches]

Hi everyone. I have a customer who inquired about stack cutting Masonite. He wants to have a bunch of Michigan shaped parts nested (apprx size is 4"x5" - 190 per sheet) and if possible , stack 2 sheets of 3/16 Masonite together to yield 380 parts per run. Is it possible to do this with a 1/4" down spiral? I was hoping to use the down spiral to pack the chips back into the kerf and eliminate the need for tabs as my current single Lighthouse motor vacuum setup can't handle a full sheet with that many parts involved.

Thanks,
Ron

[jTr]

One lighthouse motor with un-tabbed 4x5 pieces sounds like a disaster in the making.
I know they'd be slipping on my table with two lighthouse motors- even likely if I engage all four.
= I strongly recommend tabs

As to the stack, if the two sheets are not somehow adhered to each other, multiply above disaster x 10.

I see a few scenarios in mind of how to adhere the two sheets - some sort of double sided adhesive, or kraft paper lightly glued- you can split the two quite easily.
Then i imagine 190 pieces x 15-30 seconds each to split back apart, and my final conclusion is:

Cut one sheet at a time utilizing tabs.

jeff

[donek]

Typical recommended cut depth for a 1/4in diameter cutter is a maximum of 1/4in. You therefore gain nothing by stacking two sheets as you have to make 2 passes to get through both layers. This sort of makes the fastening of two layers a mute point.

[coryatjohn]

Have you considered using a 1/8" bit instead of a 1/4" That should solve the vacuum problem. Even if you have to cut slower, the extra work of removing the tabs would add quite a bit of manual labor. How many of those parts are you going to damage when you're removing the tab? 10% or more? The smaller the bit, the smaller the forces and the smaller the kerf.

[oddcoach]

It sounds like you need to cut a lot of theses sheets. In that case you should make a dedicated vacuum jig with a cover gasket. that way you will not need tabs. By using the cover gasket you will not be loosing vacuum as you cut the parts.

[knight_toolworks]

a 1/8" downcut will work well and with masoning I bet yo can cut at least 1.5" on the stacking tell them if they want to invest a few hundred thousand in a new machine yo can stack the sheets.