Sonsivri

uve Been looking into these for using a vacuum plate for making pcb’s Like one of these

What are your thoughts, I did think about making my own but it’s getting the right bits and stuff

I’ve tried to post pic of it but it won’t let me on me iPad,
So here is the link
https://vacuumtables.co.uk/diy-cnc-kits/diy-cnc-starter-kit-1 (https://vacuumtables.co.uk/diy-cnc-kits/diy-cnc-starter-kit-1)

Great if you're doing runs of boards, but for a one or two off?

Why not just use double sided tape and save your hearing (that venturi setup is loud)

Hi,
I was trying to mill one by myself, and it didn't worth the time I spend on it.
There were air leakage, not on the vacuum plate itself, but in between the PCB and vacuum plate due to different size of the 2 devices (and you need to isolate to suck properly).
All traces milling were ok, but drilling was damaging the vacuum plate, meaning sooner or later I will have to mill a new one. I gave away...

My volume is pretty low (couple PCBs a year) and, as Solutions said, the best I found is a double-face tape + leveling data collection software.
OH

https://cnc-plus.de/en/Workholding/Vacuum-Tables/VT-3040-Vacuum-Table--Vacuum-Clamping-Plate-300x400mm.html


VBR

Hi, I confirm solution from OH as far i use with success the same, simple and efficient solution with double-face tape + leveling data collection software.

Look here for example : https://www.scorchworks.com/Gcoderipper/gcoderipper.html (https://www.scorchworks.com/Gcoderipper/gcoderipper.html)

Fabrice

Yeah I don't make that many, I just like to make at least one so I know the design and layout is working as I caught myself out the once by making a silly mistake, If I need more then of the same PCB I get them made once I know it works.

I got the idea by stumbling across this web site and it got me thinking about it, I did a bit of research and thought why not give it ago. I only looked at that one because it uses a compressor as the vacuum I was going to use was not that power power full. 
https://altrish.co.uk/2019/03/21/a-mini-vacuum-clamping-table-for-pcb-engraving/ (https://altrish.co.uk/2019/03/21/a-mini-vacuum-clamping-table-for-pcb-engraving/)

I had tried in the past the double sided tape but did not think it was that good or this may have been cased by the mdf spoil board I was using, may give it another go.
I use flatcam to create the gerber code and then autoleveller which I get descent results.

You might want check your depth of cut if you need a spoil board behind your PCB...

 :P

The spoil board is only to make sure that the bed is true to the machine and nice and flat 🙃😊

I have had success with double sided sticky tape and 2 part Cyanoacrylate glue. What kind of problem did you encounter?

In any case, MDF spoil boards, tape, and the copper board itself - *none* of them are flat (very likely not the vacuum widget either).
You must use software to build a height map so the Gcode gets small adjustments in Z as it moves along.

In my case I build maps no coarser than 5mm apart and sometimes as low as 3mm. It is an extra step up front that takes a couple minutes, but it produces fantastic results.

I'd like to hear more about your experiences as I am still new to this.

Its common to machine a scrap spoil board flat before you machine your work.