Widget Works Pressure Foot

[dubliner]

I just wanted to give a shout to Russ for coming up with a very simple but effective tool for thin material machining. I had to nest & cut 100 of these parts out of a 24x48 inch sheet of slippery 1/4 inch smooth HDPE. Following the included instructions I was successful at the first attempt but I used 1/2 in cutting board as it was all I had. So I countersunk 4 screws into the corners of the sheet to keep it in place and pressed go. These parts are about 3 in tall by 2.5 perhaps but some of the walls are .125 inches wide. I cant tell you how many ideas I ran around in my head when I got asked to do this job & how on earth I was going to hold the parts in place. As you can see the foot worked so amazingly well I was shocked. Cheers Russ for an awesome tool in the arsenal. I'm not afraid to mill anything small now, in fact I might be one of a few who can do it in Austin now. The acrylic hearts were cut using a laser, but I forgot they were in the picture. Used a .125 up zero at 2.5/1.5

[tracys]

I've been eye balling one of these, very cool.

[dlcw]

Great job!

I have to wait to purchase one until my wife (accountant) says I can have a new toy. I have uses for it already. I'm chomping at the bit....:D

[curtiss]

Very nice work, do you run the vacuum at the same time, or is the down pressure enough ?

What the heck does that white gadget you cut do ?? I don't have one and may need one.....

[dubliner]

No Vacuum hold down at all, just countersunk screws. Next time I will use a piece of 3/4 ply large enough to clamp to main table and put four walls made of blue foam to contain the chips as you have no collection, but that is a minor issue . I tried following with a shop vac hose but they go every where. I think containing them and vacuuming later might be easier.

[brian]

I ordered one just the other day.
I was waiting until they had developed the prt version.attachment.
Reworking a dust collection foot will be a challenge.
Looking foward to using it

Brian

[signtist]

So.........what is a widget foot thingie???

[dlcw]

http://www.widgetworksunlimited.com/category_s/70.htm

[knight_toolworks]

I may work out dc for it. but you can only use it when cutting larger parts. small parts and you will end up sucking them up.

[gundog]

Maybe you could setup a dust foot 6" away and with a little air blow chips toward the dust foot???

Mike

[knight_toolworks]

for the most part chips are not really a problem. they don't fly far.

[geneb]

If the cutting area is small enough, a specialized side-hood like what you'd use behind the back of a chop saw might work pretty well.

g.

[zeke]

Are the edges of the pressure foot beveled so they don't catch/bind against the material on x and y movements where cuts have already been made adjacent to the current cutting location?

[knight_toolworks]

yes. I find it is best to not have the foot raise off the material or very little. I just cut a very large stensil out of 2 mil sintra. took over 2.5 hours the foot kept most of the scrap in place.