I made a few of these Zero Clearance inserts for my table on the new CNC today.
The cuts are super clean and precise.
The upgraded dust collector filter is fantastic. It makes it so I’m not afraid for my lungs when cutting MDF. The dust collector cleaned up almost everything. Taking a small pass with a shop vac finished the job up after the parts were done.
The vacuum table is pretty neat. there’s several offcuts that I put tabs on that I don’t think I’ll need to anymore in the future. That said, it’s really only affective for larger work pieces (even covering the entire vacuum area). Smaller work pieces were moving around and turning themselves into scrap (12"x20").
I think having a small area – say, the A section – with some non-destructive hold down options (t-track, match-fit) would be nice.
Part of the consideration for the vacuum sizing was having the 2 machines. The small zones on the large machine are 24x48 inches. The IQ work area is 24x36 in.
If the vacuum wasnt holding the smaller pieces, the IQ could have been an option.
Adding more hold down methods in the future is something to consider.
you can also always get yourself a spoilboard large enough to cover one of the vacuum zones and secure your piece to that spoilboard with your preferred method. The blue tape and CA glue method also works great directly onto the CNC board.
