Small part hold down on a nested bed

[Neville Bastian]

I would like to do do a small cutting board come cheese board as a promotional thing for clients. I have offcuts of solid timber from jobs done over the years so only cost will be CNC time. As they are small trying to hold them on a vacuum table is a mission. Would like to do a nice shape and a liquid cove grove on the top edge so it mimics the commercial products. Has anyone worked out a solution that doesnt involve manual fasteners or a lot of effort? Being timber it can create a lethel missle...

Regards
Neville

[Scott Marshburn]

Hot glue gun

[Will Williamson]

I prefer to run the out line on the spoilboard. Place 1/16 inch thick gasket material, on the inside of the cut.
then drill a 1/4 inch hole through the spoil board. now you should have a hold of it good.
The final test is place the blank apply vacuum and try and pull it off with both hands. If you can pull it off, it is not safe to cut.
Contact All Star Adhesives for gasket material.
I have always been able to make this method work.
I build all sorts of jigs and fixtures using this method.

[Jeremy Schiffer]

Something I've done as well is to use spray contact adhesive. Not the goopy red stuff, but there are thinner varieties available. (Similar to the 3M 77 Spray). Spray a coat on the waste board only, let it get tacky, and stick your part down. Pulls off without leaving much residue, but sticks like mad. Worst-case scenario, spray the part as well. Then it becomes basically part of your wasteboard.

[Rob Davis]

Neville,, we use the cnc to make carved cutting boards for our clients. We do it by making a blank of the same size for each one, cut the outline into a melamine sheet and then inserting the blank into the hole. The melamine holds tight and the blank fits tightly into the hole (use shims if necessary). Works great for us but we have the luxury of the pieces all being the same size. We get 8 cutting boards per sheet so do 8 at a time. We also did 4" x 4" mdf tiles like Scrabble pieces this method. worked fine. We've not had too much success with glue or masking off areas but I know others use that method.
Good luck!

[Neville Bastian]

Thanks everyone for the tips.
I intend doing a few at a time to get the labour cost down. Have been running these facebook promotions to like the business page and you get a ticket in the monthly give away. Get a friend join up and you get another ticket and they get a ticket. Suprising how its created some interest and got women excited. We all know that is not easy to do
Regards
Neville