CNC Vacuum Jig for Small Pieces

The CNC router table at my local Makerspace has a vacuum hold down table. This is nice for larger boards, but smaller pieces of wood do not have enough surface area to hold down by suction alone. I built this jig to hold down smaller pieces.

Step 1: Route T-Slots Along Board

Metal T-slots are available, but I wanted to use something sacrificial to avoid damage to the router or the bits if they inadvertently hit the tracks. They sell a T-Slot router bit at rockler that was able to make these.

Step 2: Add Grip Surface

I glued a wood strip along the bottom edge of the jig to give the piece something to hold against. To give it extra strength I added grip tape to make sure the piece wouldn't move. I haven't had a slip with this jig.

Comments

[pez000]

exellent idea i want to try to use em, couple of quick questions
how did u make the t slots?
and what kind of clamp are those

[rshill]

I used a T-Slot router bit. There are many but I found this one on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Yonico-14188-T-Slot-T-Track...

These are the clamps I used:

http://www.rockler.com/auto-lock-t-track-clamp

[Yonatan24]

T-Slot router bit. See step #1.

I think they are those 90 degree toggle clamps. They say Rockler, so search for them on their website...

[Swansong]

That's a great design :)