clamping methods?

[Crawler374]

i tried to screw down the plastic im cutting, but it always seems to "bow" in the center while im milling. how are you guys keeping everything down?

[ger21]

My table has threaded inserts, so I bolt everything down. But a lot of times, you may find that different jobs require different methods. What kind of plastic, how big, and what kind of tooling are you using?

[Crawler374]

1/8 acetal(delrin) 1/8" milling bit

[dertsap]

what about giving it a dab of hot glue in the center to keep it from bowing , the hot glue can easily be peeled off later , i use hot glue to hold down nearly everything on my router table

[FandZ]

Originally Posted by dertsap what about giving it a dab of hot glue in the center to keep it from bowing , the hot glue can easily be peeled off later , i use hot glue to hold down nearly everything on my router table

I've been useing hot glue to hold my parts down and while it works, I haven't been having a great time with it. If I put too little, then the part may come undone while being machined. If I put too much, it's like hell to get the part off the table. Do you have any tips on hot gluing you could share? I'm wondering if I need to run some kind of pull tabs under my stuck to make removing the pieces easier.

BTW, I'm useing a lot of MDF.

[dertsap]

Originally Posted by FandZ I've been useing hot glue to hold my parts down and while it works, I haven't been having a great time with it. If I put too little, then the part may come undone while being machined. If I put too much, it's like hell to get the part off the table. Do you have any tips on hot gluing you could share? I'm wondering if I need to run some kind of pull tabs under my stuck to make removing the pieces easier. BTW, I'm useing a lot of MDF.

a number of thin streaks usually do it for what I do , then I use a wood chisel and lightly tap and or slowly pry around the piece

[FandZ]

Originally Posted by dertsap a number of thin streaks usually do it for what I do , then I use a wood chisel and lightly tap and or slowly pry around the piece

That worked. I was doing thick wavy lines with a big x from the corners. I just tried smaller straight lines in one direction and it was a lot easier to get off the table. Thanks

[philly452008]

I have used double sided carpet tape in the past(between table and sheet)and 2" wide masking tape to stick around the edges when machining 4mm thick perspex.Seemed to hold sheet adequately for my application,without the hassle of scraping off glue!Hope this may be of help.