# home made suction bed?



## teabag (Dec 16, 2007)

my first actual posting here on the forum, Hope this is in the correct section,
If not could a mod please move it, thanks.

I'm curious to find out if anyone has made any suction beds for fixing down work for routing...
I have made a couple myself for home use and they are impresive in performance, simple and very effective. however Im only using a numatic cleaner (Henry) for the suction (short term uses only) as I dont wish to burn the vacum cleaner out lol...
I use a router at work, and make the sacrificial suction beds for the cnc we have when needed, recently ive used the same idea for my home one's to clamp down small worktops for bolt routing using the main extraction system.
for portable benches.
can anyone recomend a better method for providing the suction that would be more suitable and portable?
gotta admit the Henry is ideal atm as i use it to clean up afterwards lol...
Like i say simple and effective... just use 2 saw horses and a top with a hole in for the pipe to push in. suction seals to the top with the rubber gasket on front and back, once the work is placed on top. the recessed circle allows suction to pull from all 4 holes giving uniform pulling power within the gasket area. 
you can make smaller holding areas for smaller items for doing mouldings around edges without the need for clamps...
(btw I do know you cant use a cyclone style vacum cleaner for this type of job).


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Vacuum hold downs while popular for industrial use have not seen much home shop action in the US. One of the reasons is it is so easy and inexpensive to simply clamp an object. There are a number of routing mats designed to hold wood in place for routing and sanding, and even these are seldom recommended for routing since any slip could ruin a project. In the last year or so down draft sanding tables both commercial and home built have been showing up on various forums. Your posting may inspire a few of our avid "I can build that" members to give it a try.


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## teabag (Dec 16, 2007)

thanks for the reply, i know what you mean regards cheapness for clamps but as i know through experience at work in the factory using the hand held router on worktops there are many times i cant clamp boards easily expecially small work and the suction bed is just awsome. Hence I have made a few now for home use.
regards anti slip mats, i also use those but am very aware they "could" also get dragged into the cutter being a potential health risk.


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

I made a plate for my router cabinet that works pretty good. Covered it with sand paper to help it hold what I'm working on.
http://www.routerforums.com/51397-post7.html


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## teabag (Dec 16, 2007)

cool I'l try and get some footage of the one I'e made at work with the portable dust extractor to show just how effective the suction is....


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## DougO (Jan 4, 2006)

This is a interesting little video:

http://www.liwoodworkers.org/media/video/VacClampingPart2web.wmv


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## teabag (Dec 16, 2007)

cool vid, audio was bad n scratchy... but nice find.. informative too even if he was badly orgenised lol.


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## Nickbee (Nov 9, 2007)

AxlMyk said:


> I made a plate for my router cabinet that works pretty good. Covered it with sand paper to help it hold what I'm working on.
> http://www.routerforums.com/51397-post7.html


very cool axl!

can you provide more details / pics on your planer sled... 

thanks!


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