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Being new to you guys, this may be old technology, so I'll wait to see if anyone really would like this info and then "edit" the instructions in. I'm not a great typist, so it takes me a while. Didn't want to type a ton of old tech. Anyone??
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana Mkntraks@digisys.net Carving America into a better shape!
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Thanks for the offer Pierre, you've got me curious, does this involve drilling 88,000 small holes in a tabletop, boxing in the base, and a shop vac?
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No, Joe......actually it's 88,320 holes. :^) The product used is an acrylic modular 4x8 sheet 5/8" thick. The cells are about 3/4" wide and run horizontaly along the 8' length. It typically comes with two end "snap caps". Because the sheet has gentle "swells" between each cell, you need to "Acryweld" a 1/8" sheet of acrylic to the surface, making it dead flat. NOW......for the holes. We put this setup on our computerized router and programmed the holes to be 1" apart. Pain in the butt, but it worked very well. Once drilled, one of the snap caps is siliconed on one end. Now take a 2-3" diameter length of PVC pipe, 4'6" long and cut a "channel" in the side 5/8" wide and 4' long. Leave three inches uncut on each end. Push the PVC pipe halfway over the edge of the cell acrylic. Run a bead of silicone along both edges where the pipe meets the acrylic. Plug one end of the pipe and attatch a vacumn fitting on the other end. NO SHOP VAC required. Use a simple household, low noise vacumn cleaner. This makes an excellent professional vacumn table top which accommodates screening or multi color applique handling. The cell acrylic is sold in most distribution warehouses. Costs about $210.00. The 1/8" acrylic should be around $32.00. VERY cheap for a truly professional table top if you consider a factory setup like this is around $1,000. Cover the entire top with newsprint and cut out the area requiring a vacumn. You won't believe the suction from this setup. Ours is 8 years old now and still works like the day we built it. Drilling the holes by hand is a pain, but if you use a high speed (4,000rpm) is goes fast too. The drilling residue can be sucked out by hooking up a shop-vac. Don't overdo the power on the vacumn you use. A small one works extremely well. Geez.......I'm all typed out.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana Mkntraks@digisys.net Carving America into a better shape!
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I am impressed with the idea Pierre, but as usual, I am sure the substrate you talk of is only available in the U.S. And I hate when that happens....
------------------ Ivan Allan Eye Signs Saskatchewan Canada
[This message has been edited by RaveOn (edited April 18, 2000).]
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This sounds a bit scary Pierre. Imagine some poor soul leaning over the tabletop, drilling the last few holes, and someone switches on the vacuum to test the thing out. Result: One poor soul with a checkerboard pattern of new nipples covering the front of their body...all perfectly spaced, an inch apart.
------------------ Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail kjmlhenry@home.
posted
Ok- Now- What do you use for a heat source? Do you make the patterns, molds(?) from what? For what? Guess I never thought about doing big stuff-
I'm only used to tabletop vacuforming-(37 years old and still building model cars, sheeeez- get a life. hehehe)
------------------ Steve Barba is the proud owner, president, & sole employee of Sturgis Sign Works. sbarba2616@dtgnet.com
Posts: 768 | From: Sturgis South Dakota | Registered: Nov 1998
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Our vacuum top is a sheet of laminex glued to a sheet of ply which is the top of a shallow box. Haven't counted the holes but there are heaps. Domestic vacuum machine does the trick. Intend to make another out of the vacuum top of an old camera. It has a dial which enables progressively larger or smaller areas of the vacuum to activate Print Wright Australia
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Posts: 119 | From: Gladstone, Queensland, Australia | Registered: May 1999
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Yea and you think youre a cheapskate.. I got an air hockey table at Sams Club for $150. Take the blower off and replace with small cheap vacuum cleaner and PRESTO. When you get bored at work just replace the blower and play.A piece of 1/8 plexiglass is used to protect the table when not in vacuum mode and it doubles as a layout/cutting table. Gary Patrick
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Posts: 77 | From: oviedo,fl usa | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Steve, Vacuum table are used to hold your substrait in place while you are working on it. It is mostly used in silk screening, and for router tables. For screening, it prevents the material from "sticking" to the back of the screen, and holds it in place. The same goes for the router table, it holds the substrait in place while cutting. If you do neither, you'll probibly won't need one.
posted
Steve..we work for a number of camper manufacturers producing large multicolor appliques. Some as many as four color. To "inset" one color outline into another color inline requires that the first or previous color be absolutely still and immovable. Can't really do production work without one unless you've got lots of time. Vacumn table is an absolute necessity.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana Mkntraks@digisys.net Carving America into a better shape! PEACE, through superior chisel-power!
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