How do you hold down a sheet of alum?

[UBRacing]

I was just looking through this forum and...

I was wondering how do you hold down a sheet of alum. Say if the size was 4x8' .080 and you wanted to cut a part out of it that is 3.5'x3.5'. Do you use clamps and just hold down the outer edge on a sheet of MDF or plastic?




Thanks

[ger21]

vacuum, double face tape, spray glue.

[srmaietta]

Id say double stick tape (thin kind) but getting the work off the table without it bending seems like it would be an issue. I guess you just go slow with a putty knife.....

soon to be cutting .090 alum myself let us know how you do!

~Steve

[juzwuz]

You can use rubbing alcohol or acetone or some other solvent to unstick the double sided tape. I just let it wick into the tape and it usually comes up with no problems. You'll have a sticky mess to clean up from your table and work piece though.

[rustamd]

vacuum is by far the easiest/most professional way of holding something like that down.

[neilw20]

Originally Posted by UBRacing I was just looking through this forum and... I was wondering how do you hold down a sheet of alum. Say if the size was 4x8' .080 and you wanted to cut a part out of it that is 3.5'x3.5'. Do you use clamps and just hold down the outer edge on a sheet of MDF or plastic? Thanks

Put a piece of MDF more than covering the area to be used.
Clamp it down. Rout through the MDF. Minimal burs this way.
Thin MDF underneath allows sharp part of cutter to leave nice edge on the bottom. This is similar to what PCB manufacturers do.