Low profile, compact work-holding solutions. Advice sought.

[Wal]

Hello all,

I've recently completed a test project in mother of pearl - it was an intricate inlay to be used on a guitar fretboard. Here are some pics:



I stuck the blank to a piece of perspex using double sided. As my XY 0,0 was in the middle, I'd milled out a very shallow pocket so that I knew where to stick the blank.

It went reasonably well, but after 16 hours of cutting (that's what you get for pocketing with a 0.2mm end-mill) the double-sided let go on the final cut-out pass. Managed to stop the machine before the cutter had a chance to ruin the work completely, but it meant having to re-align the stock manually to get myself an outer profile cut that was deep enough to manually grind back to (and under a bit) and maintain the illusion of a nice clean line. I did this with some level of success, but it's lop-sided and not good enough to pass as a usable piece.

Anyway, if I do this again, I'll essentially employ the same method (double sided) but this time I'll make that initial shallow pocket in the perspex deep enough to accommodate the majority of the depth of the blank, which will be a nice snug press-fit into the hole. I may also mill a smaller through hole in the perspex so that I can 'poke' the finished work out from behind, should it need poking.

Any other suggestions..?

Wal.