Hey all, I purchased the vacuum table and pump from Carbide and there wasn’t really any specific information to go off of to install/use it as I’m sure it’s case specific, but I do have some questions.
It’s a 2 x 2 5.1 machine so I ordered the 2 x 2 MDF vacuum board as well as purchased a 1/2” MDF board and cut it to 2 x 2. I’m planning to cut leather and have seen in videos online that having a flat sacrificial MDF board is ideal. However, when placing leather pieces on top of the MDF board there’s not really much grip/suction and I can easily move the leather around.
Should I try a thinner MDF board or add/change my gasket layout underneath? I will say that when turning on the pump it runs at about -16 psi and I can’t move the MDF board much, if at all, once it’s on, just the leather on top.
MDF leaks from all sides. I seal the edges… Really anywhere you don’t have leather wants to be sealed one way or another, because the vacuum doesn’t care where it gets the air…always takes the low hanging fruit. I don’t have one of these but I built one myself. I used a spongy cord in the grooves to deliniate where I will put my substrates. Maybe C3D has a more elequent solution but I don’t see that on your table.
Keep in mind that leather is not like sheet goods. Also the systems that typically utilize pdf in between the vacuum table and the piece being vacuumed utilize a much bigger cam pump like a Becker or something similar. A commercial vacuum pump is like 10 times stronger than a small vacuum pump[ like the ones Carbide sells, which I think are just air weights systems. Maybe talk to Jace Dispenza the owner at Airweights. He is a wealth of information and always willing to help. Airweights is a great company and has stellar customer service.
I forgot the step about treating the edges of the MDF to prevent suction getting lost on the sides. Gonna put some epoxy on the edges and see if that helps!
Did you also surface both sides of the MDF? The faces are less porous, and don’t let air pass through easily. You need to remove that factory “skin” to use it for vacuum applications.
