Manufacture of a wooden panel on a CNC milling machine.

Wood Working

Supporting CNC machining with reliable vacuum fixing

Vacuum solutions for wood working

Vacuum is the best solution to fix furniture wood panels during CNC machining. Mechanical gripping would create some marks and damages on the parts while magnetic clamping simply does not work on wood.

There are two main vacuum fixing methods:

Grid woodworking table: In this case, rubber sealing cords are inserted in the grids to fit it as close as possible to the shape of the part to machine. The vacuum inside draws in the created surface and pushes the panel on the table.
Flip pods system: Vacuum pods are integrated in the vacuum table and depending on part geometry, they are flipped up or down. When up, they create vacuum between the part and the working table. When turned over, they seal the vacuum plate from the vacuum pump.

In both cases, a constant and strong vacuum is required during operation. If the vacuum level fluctuates and decrease below a certain value, the wood panel might slip, which would affect the quality of the cut and potentially results in ruining the whole panel.

Given the potential leaks on the working table and resulting gas flow, a carryover of particles (wooden chips, saw dust) to the vacuum pump can always be expected in this application. Our dry claw pumps CLAWVAC easily manage this issue. If the recommended inlet filter fails and particles reach the pump, the on-site cleanability of the vacuum generator allows you to put them back in operation within few minutes.

Additionally, our smart control solution VAControlCAB will provide energy saving while speeding down between machine cycle or during cycle when vacuum level is reached.

Our CLAWVAC CPi systems are available for the biggest machines or when several machines are running on a central vacuum system.