Bestest Handsander wrote:

I had the thought that I could drill a hold through my solid
maple bench top and thread an NTP male quick release onto the
bottom. Then take a piece of MDF and drill a hole though it.
Put some neoprene tape along the edges on both sides. Then
whenever I want to vacuum clamp something, I'd blow out the
hole to clear any dust/debris that might have collected,
attached the vacuum pump, put the MDF over the hole, and the
piece to be sanded/routed on top of the MDF. Then turn the
pump on (the pump is 3cfm continuous duty rated).

Am I missing something? Ideally I'd have a foot switch to
release the vacuum pressure, but as far as I can tell it
should work. Thoughts?

Don't use MDF - it's much too leaky. Instead make your block of
UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene). It's available
from most woodworking ssources. It's not cheap but it /works/.

You don't need to drill your workbench to do this. I have a web
page at http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/assembly.html that describes
how to build the kind of clamp you're describing.

BTW, I use an old recycled refrigerator compressor to provide the
vacuum for my CNC router. It works /well/ (and the price was right!)

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto, Iowa USA