Vacuum Table Project

[wmgeorge]

CNCRP has designed and posted on Thingverse a 24x24 inch vacuum hold down table made from MDF and it was in Fusion 360 format. Does anyone have it converted over to VCarve Pro? I need to make some modifications and Fusion 360 does not run well on this laptop for some reason.

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[GigaWatt]

I started using Fusion 360 however it's to complicated for the work I do. Aspire & VCarve Pro suit my needs. In the year I used Fusion, I never found a way to convert Fusion file to VCarve and there are a lot of post about the topic with no good resolution. There are many videos about vacuum tables. Here is a link to a 2 part video which is very good.

[nlancaster]

why would you convert fusion files to vcarve? why not just use the CAM built into fusion, it is very very good.

[wmgeorge]

I find Fusion 360 difficult to use and I use VCarve Pro V9.xx. I have another program I use for 3D Modeling. This is a prototype of my 24x24 Vac table, slots are spaced to fit my 1/4 inch thick peg board 1/2 inch support at 2 inch spacing. Bottom T is where hose will connect. I will set on edge and mill out slot to fit my hose fitting at that bottom area. Two pieces of 3/4 MDF glued together.

[ubergeekseven]

I understand the learning curve of fusion 360 CAm is much more than vcarve. I use both, and find that both have their limitations and frustrations. Fusion is a real CAM package though and if you put the time into learning it, you will have a better understanding of all machining in the long run. NYCNC youtube and Fusion 360 youtube pages both have good information that you can pay attention to when you have the time. I find vectric much better for carving than for doing things that are accurate. You can do the same things in vcarve, but it takes much more time to do the same thing. In fusion, loading a complex model, example being a large topographical map, will overload the system and take forever to do what vcarve does in no time at all. So, I tend to do the cam for carving in vectric and the accurate stuff in fusion. I will move between the two programs, but usually I do not move the meshes from vectric to fusion because of how hard it is to work with that file in fusion.
I started with 3d printing, so I learned modeling over the years with that process and it made getting into CAm much easier for me. I am hoping that since autodesk killed artcam, they will introduce the features into fusion at some point. Instead of working with meshes for certain parts, using the pixel based CAM of vectric or artcam for my artistic design within fusion would drastically reduce the time of my workflow.
The only method I can think of for you to use to convert would be either exporting the model as an stl and importing and scaling correctly within vcarve as you would any other stl for carving. Or, you could export dxf data, but that is tedious to me.

[wmgeorge]

Back to the vacuum table I finally got time to finish. !/4 inch thick pegboard with 1/4 inch holes on one inch centers. Used one of my new Shop Vac pickup tool and cut a hole in the pegboard to fit. Hole was perhaps 2 inches high and then 4 or 5 inches wide. Held down with screws and sealed as the top was with silicone sealer. Pegboard fasted with a few brads out of a nail gun.

First test with the birdhouse design and it worked beautifully. I had the MDF so only net cost was $4 for the pegboard.. MDF edges sealed with the white Elmer's Glue and water mixture. Then all MDF sealed with two coats of water based Urethane Varnish..

[wmgeorge]

FYI as noted elsewhere I would use the pegboard with 1/8 inch holes it could be a better choice.