Stumbled onto a better way to hold thin stock on the vacuum table

Last Tuesday I was running some 1/8 inch aluminum sheets in my shop near Portland and kept getting chatter on the edges. I tried double sided tape and it was a mess. Then I remembered some guy on here mentioning using a layer of painters tape on the table first. Sprayed some light adhesive on the tape and put my stock on top. Held solid through the whole job and peeled off clean. Any of you guys run into better tricks for thin parts like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan_carr5911d ago

And building off what @wright.cole mentioned about the damp sponge, I actually tried that last week with some .06 inch steel. Worked way better than I expected - just wiped the table down with a little water and it held the sheet flat. But for your 1/8 inch aluminum, I'd actually go with a thin layer of that non-slip shelf liner stuff they sell at the hardware store. Cut it to fit your table, spray a little adhesive on the back so it stays put, and your stock sits right on top. No tape residue, no cleanup, and it even dampens the chatter a bit. I've been using the same piece for like six months now.

wright.cole11d ago

The painters tape trick is solid. I had a similar headache last month with some thin brass shim stock for a restoration job. Ended up using a spray mount adhesive on a sheet of melamine board, clamped that down instead of the vacuum table. It worked fine but I spent the next hour peeling tiny bits of adhesive off the brass with a razor blade. My neighbor swears by wiping the table with a lightly damp sponge first, says the surface tension helps hold things flat without any sticky mess. I keep meaning to try it but I always forget until I'm already in the middle of a cut.