vacuum table using compressed air

[Ger21]

Merry Christmas to you as well. Yeah, 50 HP worth of pumps sure makes things easy. ;) But you'd be surprised how often you wish for even more.

I have a small electric pump that I'll be using on my next machine. I'll be using it with no tank, with dedicated pods or fixtures.

While a tank can help with the fast hold down, you'll get a bit more vacuum with no tank, as you won't get the drop that you get when the switch cycles the pump on and off. I have a veneer press that uses two venturi pumps, and the switch allows about a 4"Hg drop before the pump comes back on. A tank works best when you have a very good seal, so that the pump rarely needs to run. If you have any leakage, I'd skip the tank.

[GEOFFREY]

Obviously sucking thru an mdf sacrificial sheet means some leakage all the time. I have divided my small bed (540x450) into two separate areas, each connected to a small (600W) 230 V vac pump plugged into sockets on the machine front. When ready to rout I simply flick the switches on then off again when finished.

This seemed to be the cheapest easiest option. G.