@grumpa wrote:
In building my vacuum table instead of buying miles of weather stripping to seal pieces to the vacuum table, I tried a rubberized paint in the roofing section of hom depoe, it has rubber particles in the paint. 2 coats on the pvc sheet and on tempered hard board did not hold a vacuum. 2 coats were better than 1, maybe 5 coats will make a thick enough layer but the problem with 2 coats was getting perfectly even and consistant coverage. Double stick tape worked great even with leaving one side with the plastic layer on it so it didn’t stick to both pieces in the test. Stuck it to the platen and left the red layer on (so used only one side with the sticky) so not to stick the template to the platen. Pulled 10 " vacuum (about max for my old pump).
I will be using one side of the double stick tape to hold the vacuum platen to the slotted board (just in case I need to remove it) and one side of the double stick tape on the top side of the platen so I won’t need any “sealant” on my many template panels. I have alignment pins to hold everything aligned until I engage the vacuum and all should be fine.
The rubber weather stripping is the best except the glue wears off quickly and I don’t believe it will hold up to the many changes of templates it will see.
When blazing a new trail, sometimes the ground can get a little “burnt”, when following a trail always be alert to smoke on the horizon. Jude
Posts: 3
Participants: 2