Hold Downs/Vac Table for Balsa

[rjfurness@bigpo]

Hello All,
my second router is intended to have a vacuum table made for it, however having read the various threads about vac tables I am not so sure that is a suitable approach to take.

I will be cutting balsa wood from 1/16 in to 1/4 in almost exclusively. Reading that MDF is porous and leaks air, I am assuming that balsa would also be very difficult to hold down with a vacuum.

I will be cutting parts out so I will be doing through cuts 100% of the time so I expect I will be adding to my air leaks throughout the process.

Any recommendations on the best way to hold down balsa sheeting?

Thanks

Jason

[tmbg]

you may be able to do it with vacuum, but you'll need a high flow system... on porous materials you can't hold vac so you just have to pull LOTS of air through it

[rjfurness@bigpo]

Thanks tmbg,
I think I will proto some small MDF box with the vacuum cleaner to get a sense of the issue.

Any thoughts from anyone else with experience will really help.

Jason