Originally Posted by
darkling27
I just got my new cnc machine and i have noticed that there is no way to secure the piece of wood to the bed..... actualy there is no bed at all! Lol. So i was just wondering how you lot have got around this. Atm i have a sheet of MDF placed there to act as a bed, but obviously that isnt going to stop the piece of light material being worked on from sliding around.
I know i could screw the piece down, but i think it would be far more practical to have some sort of clamps in place? What are your thoughts on what i should do?
I drill 1/16" holes in the material to be cut at appropriate places that are out of the cutting area and then drive 5/8" long wire nails through the holes into the MDF with a small hammer. The wire nails will hold it down flat and will only leave small holes that won't hurt the MDF. The material you are cutting can easily be pried up with a wood chisel used like a pry bar. The wire nails can be reused until you bend them too much. Also, side cutter pliers will be useful for pulling up the wire nails after you loosen them with the chisel. Try to avoid running the cutter into a wire nail of course.
Sometimes I use double side carpet tape under the material and then butt small pieces of scrap wood snuggly against the material and then wire nail them in place. Until you get good at knowing where the cutter is going to go, give yourself plenty of room to avoid the wire nails. The one or two times I've hit a nail with a 1/4" cutter there was no damage. Smaller cutters may not deal with the nails so well.
CarveOne
CarveOne
http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com