I just lately wrote in regards to the Kickstarter marketing campaign for the Makera Z1 desktop CNC mill. That has already raised extra that $7M and continues to be going. However Makera simply launched a brand new video exhibiting that there will probably be a vacuum desk accessible for the Z1 and I’ve to speak about it.
When milling one thing, you must have some approach to maintain that factor in place. There may be typically loads of drive concerned, so the workholding must be very safe. The commonest workholding options are vises and clamps, that are what most Makera customers will use. However there are different options and a vacuum desk is one in all them.
A vacuum desk is a particular type of mattress that the work materials rests on. It has air channels and holes or slots. Once you join a vacuum, like Makera’s Cyclone mud collector, you create a strain differential between the underside of the work materials and the highest. The upper atmospheric strain on the highest pushes the work materials down onto the desk and friction retains it from transferring facet to facet. It’s a bit like holding a bit of cardboard as much as the hose in your vacuum cleaner.
Whereas vacuum tables aren’t normally the strongest workholding resolution accessible, they are often very handy. That’s very true whenever you wish to mill your complete high of the work materials — a state of affairs wherein clamps, or probably even a vise, would get in the way in which.
Makera’s video doesn’t give us a lot details about the vacuum desk. It isn’t even fully clear whether it is one thing customers will make themselves (probably with a package) or if it will likely be accessible as an entire unit. The video description says “You should purchase the vacuum mattress now on [Kickstarter],” however the Kickstarter marketing campaign web page doesn’t present it as an add-on.
All we all know for positive proper now’s that there will probably be some vacuum desk possibility for the Z1 and it’ll work with the Makera Cyclone mud collector.
