Had the worst week of my career when a vacuum table seal failed mid-run

Last Tuesday I was running a 13 hour job on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, cutting out about 60 cabinet parts. Everything was going smooth until I heard that hissing sound and realized my vacuum table was losing hold. Before I could hit the stop button, a 2x4 foot piece shifted and the router bit caught it, threw it across the room and snapped the collet right off. Took me the rest of the week to replace the seal strips, clean out all the dust from the vacuum grid, and re-cut the damaged parts. The worst part was explaining to my boss why I had to scrap out three sheets of material that already cost us $80 each. Has anyone else had a vacuum hold down failure that turned into a total disaster?

3 comments

3 Comments

jana_hart1810h ago

Oh no, 4x8 ply is actually 4x8 feet, not 4x2.

robinf5110h ago

Classic mix up. @drew_reed62 would feel your pain on that one.

drew_reed6210h agoMost Upvoted

Replacing those seal strips is a pain but its worth getting the good adhesive backed ones from a proper CNC supplier. The cheap foam seal on Amazon will peel up after a few hot runs. Also check your vacuum pump filter if you havent already. A clogged filter means the pump works harder and the table loses hold faster. Took me losing a full sheet of MDF to figure that one out.