I’m a true “beginner” (yes I’m talking to you whom shall remain nameless unless you attended the August CNC SIG) and I’ve been watching some YouTube videos trying learn V-Carve.
I have seen this XFasten Double Sided Woodworking Tape Amazon.com
being used to secure smaller projects to the CNC bed as opposed to blue tape with super glue. Is this a viable option? I’m struggling to find a down side and the biggest upside is not having to worry about aligning the blue tape and it’s holding power (shear strength?)
So what do you more experienced users think?
Thank to @SteveW for all his help and excellent teaching and @bwatt for stepping in to help this struggling beginner bring an idea to life.
I’ve used the xfasten on big jobs where blue tape would be a pain. It is the best double sided tape I’ve found that balances too much and too little stick. It does tend to gum up on the end of your bit if you are doing a full through profile cut. And it can be slightly inconsistent on thicknesses so you need to watch out for that.
One thing to look out for is that you need a really flat and dust free spoilboard for double sided tape to work effectively, two things that can be hard to find on a communal CNC. You may want to use a supplemental spoilboard held down by the vacuum and then tape your piece to that.
I learned this lesson the hard way on the small CNC. The blue tape with super glue didn’t hold and my part started sliding. Fortunately I was watching it closely and immediately hit the “oh ” button and found a new place on the spill board to try again.
That’s a great point about the tape residue gumming up the bit on a through cut! Knowing where and where not to put the double sided tape is definitely a great insight. Thank you Steve!
I have some of that Xfasten tape and if you haven’t purchased any yourself, I’d be happy to let you use some of mine. For what I was trying to do (cut my topology work) I was disappointed with it and went back to using either blue-tape & CA or screwing it down directly. This was mostly because the spoilboard surface was cut-up and/or dusty.
If you have the clearance, you can bring your own “spillboard” attached mechanically (brads/screws), then secure your project to said board. That’s what i do, i know my surface is flat or virgin, and it will hold. The tape or vesa (a bit more expensive) under the right conditions it will hold as long as you have enough to hold the job. I use it to hold aluminum diamond plate, lumber (has to be smooth), and plywood. It does gum up the router bits but it cleans up easily with denatured alcohol. If there is any residue on your material, if you use enough, alcohol it will
clean that up as well.
” button and found a new place on the spill board to try again.