Vacuum fixture I made for Taig mill
 

https://imgur.com/a/b7SvB

This is a fixture I made for milling a product I'm manufacturing from 1/2" acrylic sheet. I also use it for milling circuit boards and for engraving various labels.

The fixture is made from Azek (white plastic lumber found at Home Depot). There are 1/8" pins for locating the work. The copper piece is a 1/2" coupler which I use to zero the x&y axes with a Mach3 macro. The rubber seal is 1/8" neoprene, and it sits in a 1/8" x 0.090" deep groove.

This was my first shot at this thing, and it's doing what I needed it to do.. It's easy and cheap enough to crank out specialty fixtures as I need them, with Fusion 360.

Vacuum fixture I made for Taig mill
 

On 12/14/2017 1:41 PM, rangerssuck wrote:
https://imgur.com/a/b7SvB

This is a fixture I made for milling a product I'm manufacturing from
1/2" acrylic sheet. I also use it for milling circuit boards and for
engraving various labels.

The fixture is made from Azek (white plastic lumber found at Home
Depot). There are 1/8" pins for locating the work. The copper piece is a
1/2" coupler which I use to zero the x&y axes with a Mach3 macro. The
rubber seal is 1/8" neoprene, and it sits in a 1/8" x 0.090" deep groove.

This was my first shot at this thing, and it's doing what I needed it
to do. It's easy and cheap enough to crank out specialty fixtures as I
need them, with Fusion 360.


Very nice. I just bought a new table for my Taig. (I repurposed the
old one to a mini cnc lathe project.) I may put mine back together
again someday.

There are little jobs the Taig really does well if its adjusted properly.

So are you cutting through, leaving a skin and breaking loose the parts
when you take them off the fixture, or using a draw through spoil board
made of MDF?

Are you using high volume (blower or shop vac) or are you using high
vacuum? If using high vacuum are you employing a vacuum reservoir?

Vacuum fixture I made for Taig mill
 

On Thursday, December 14, 2017 at 3:49:42 PM UTC-5, Bob La Londe wrote:
On 12/14/2017 1:41 PM, rangerssuck wrote:
https://imgur.com/a/b7SvB

This is a fixture I made for milling a product I'm manufacturing from
1/2" acrylic sheet. I also use it for milling circuit boards and for
engraving various labels.

The fixture is made from Azek (white plastic lumber found at Home
Depot). There are 1/8" pins for locating the work. The copper piece is a
1/2" coupler which I use to zero the x&y axes with a Mach3 macro. The
rubber seal is 1/8" neoprene, and it sits in a 1/8" x 0.090" deep groove.

This was my first shot at this thing, and it's doing what I needed it
to do. It's easy and cheap enough to crank out specialty fixtures as I
need them, with Fusion 360.


Very nice. I just bought a new table for my Taig. (I repurposed the
old one to a mini cnc lathe project.) I may put mine back together
again someday.

There are little jobs the Taig really does well if its adjusted properly.

So are you cutting through, leaving a skin and breaking loose the parts
when you take them off the fixture, or using a draw through spoil board
made of MDF?

Are you using high volume (blower or shop vac) or are you using high
vacuum? If using high vacuum are you employing a vacuum reservoir?

I usually just cut right through. As I said (I think) I can replace this fixture in just a few minutes, and the materials are only a couple of bucks, so when it gets worn out, I can easily replace it. Om the other hand, if I could find some very thin MDF. that would be good, too.

I'm using a high vacuum 3.5 cfm pump, with no accumulator.The pump moves plenty of air, is designed to run continuously (evacuating refrigeration systems) and doesn't make very much noise.

I do like the Taig, but I wish that the spindle was faster.

I'll be doing some modifications to the fixture for registering double-sided pcbs. Just need to give it a little more thought.