I’m new to CNC Routers and my new onefinity foreman is scheduled to arrive on Monday evening. I’m sure I will have a zillion questions for the group, but the one I have now is, how do you hold your project down on the waste board?
DeKevin
there are many ways to do this. double sided tape, painters tape with ca glue, and many types of clamps. I have used them all in and for different situations. I have used double sided tape for foam carving of toolbox tray holders; I have used painters’ tape with ca glue for projects that are carved right to the edge of the work piece. But my most often used are these clamps that I make and sell. they are ultra-low-profile clamps for t track enabled machines. you can see the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPTUbtQp74U yes of course i am biased but they have been reviewed by people that have no reason to lie and several folks on this forum. Good luck on your CNC adventures.
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Hi DeKevin - as Robert mentioned, many different mechanisms. If I don’t need unfettered access to the top, I use clamps or screws. When I need access to the top, I use the blue tape method – I find double sided tape a little uneven and sometimes unreliable, but others love it. Maybe it’s just me.
We’re here for other questions!
-Tom
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Thanks for the great advice. I’m looking forward to the adventure.
I’m a big fan of CA glue and painters tape or just old school screw it down….only thing to watch out for with screws is it can create little mounds under your work that make it uneven.
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When clamping with T-track clamps is possible, I use clamps. Most often clamps get in the way, and I use screws.
I made a post about a slick workflow on the Elite with Masso, that allows the program to pre-drill holes, then pause for the operator to add screws, then continue cutting after. I use this workflow for most programs.
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Started out using hold down clamps, then added blue tape, next double sided tape, dog holes, with wedges, vacuum fixtures, 90 deg fence, with wedges, then pneumatic clamps. Now almost always use the fence with pneumatic edge clamps, or vacuum fixtures. The vac fixture I am using today is held in place by the air cylinders. Work holding is quite an interesting subject, any time I start a run of parts, I start designing a fixture or trying to speed up the indexing and clamping.
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We still love ca glue and blue tape.
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