Building a bleed board hold down for sheet stock

[bhdavis1cnc]

I have a CNT Motion 900 5x10 cnc. Since we primarily make hardwood parts our hold down system consists of an MDF table surface and screw down pods. An SL-Laser provides the layout for pod placement.

Occasionally though I want to cut some sheet stock. This can be done with pods, or carefully located screws to hold down the sheet. However I'd really like to have a bleed through system for these occasions.

I've already cut a couple 4' x 4' x 3/4" base grids and have a plan to access these 2 panels with 3" vacuum lines once they are set on the 5x10 MDF table. I can put either one or both 4'x 4' panels on the cnc depending upon what size material I need to cut.

The question I have for you more experienced folks is just how small a regenerative blower can I get by with for each of the 4' x 4' bleed board sections. I was thinking that perhaps 2 smaller blowers might be the way to go, but one large blower would be fine too. Since this isn't going to be used very often I obviously don't intend to spend $3k to $5k (or more) on a vacuum pump or regenerative blower. My pump for the pod system is a 5hp rotary vane pump that pulls 26" and a low air volume so won't work with the bleed through panels.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

BH