How to hold itty bitty teeny tiny parts???

[tim_mcknight]

I need to cut out several sets of bare feet prints. The largest dimension (which includes the toes) will be 3/8" long. The material they will be cut from is .060" thick hard maple. Any suggestions on how to hold them?

I considered DS tape as an option but they may be pretty difficult to remove.

I also considered cutting them .060" deep into 1/4" material and then ripping them out on a table saw. Then I would be able to put masking tape on the front side to keep all of the toes in tact while ripping away the waste from the back side.

[stevem]

Laser

[tim_mcknight]

Good one Steve ;) Wish I had one. Maybe a few years down the road.

[scottbot]

If you have a heat gun you could use double sided tape and use the gun to soften the adhesive after you've done the cut.
I use a heat gun often to remove adhesive labels.
It works pretty good.

[cmagro]

Is using tabs an option?

[jhicks]

If you have access to a wide belt sander, use 1/4" thick or less for stock, cut the feet .062 to .064" deep, then run the bottom of the stock off in a wide belt sander.
At some point as you dial the sander down to progressively sand off the back solid stock, you will begin to see a very thin skin. Basically an onion skin holding them in the stock. You can get to a point where they barely hold on. Then snap them out.
Be careful not to let the dust collector vacuum them off the sheet. :-)
Or you could use some vinyl masking sheet on the back of the stock, then vacuum the piece down, cut .06 and see if you can get through the stock but not the vinyl mask. Then peel them off but maybe vinyl plus a tab or two for testing.

[magic]

Ok... you forced me to tip a secret.... (magic and all) Ripping works but you don't need any tape.

I cut the parts in strips of wood that are no wider then how high my table saw bade cuts. The parts are cut to .25 from the bottom of the wood.

After the parts are cut, the wood is run through the table saw with the .25 side against the rail using a feather board.

The parts fall out on the table as you run the board through the saw. A nice clean blade with lots of teeth and little if any kerf works the best. Sometimes the low pressure from the blade keeps the parts inside the pocket until the pocket is past the blade.

I've done this many times and it works.

[jseiler]

I've done some things like this in the past using the belt of a belt/disc combination sander. The one from harbor freight is not so bad and goes on sale quite often (ITEM 6852-0VGA). I think I gave 160 for mine. I make sure to rip blanks to no more than 6 inch width and use the miter saw to cut the finished pieces down to about a foot or so. I put a rough sanding belt on (80 grit or bigger) and hold the blank in place until the pieces release, then I move the "frame piece" over until the pieces fall in a box. I just know a lot of us don't have much use (or can afford) a wide belt sander. I think a long time ago someone suggested a planer, but this always seemed a little scary to me on small parts. If the onion skin is pretty thin, this process works fairly fast.

[drodda]

I attach a small sheet of Corian to my Bot with counter sunk screws in the corners. Use artist temporary adhesive and glue your wood to the top of the corian. Only apply glue to the back of the wood not both the corian and the wood. Don't ask how I know this but just take my word for it unless you want permenent foot prints on your corian. Then cut completly through the wood and just scratch the corian. Remove the scrap from around the feet and use a putty knife to remove the feet from the corian. Clean the corian with laquere thinner and repeat if you need more. I have the air deflector on my router so the air does not blow down on the wood either. This seems to work great for me.

-D

[tim_mcknight]

I do have a wide belt sander but my vac system would inhale the feet. Keep in mind that the toes will be as small as a pin head. That is why I was thinking of putting masking tape on the cut CNC side and ripping from the back. I guess I could sand it from the back side too since I would have masking tape holding the feet & toes in tact. Thanks for all of the ideas guys. I will let you know how it turns out in a week.

Where can I get the wide sign mask someone mentioned earlier? What is it called? Is it tackier than masking tape?

[joe]

It's so easy.

Today I cut 36 very deliclate little dignbats and parted them out will no problem.

I first routed the parts into some chunky 1.5"X 4"X 4' Mahagony. Although the thickness of my parts was only 1/8" deep I routed down 3/8". Then I take the lumber over to the table saw. Set the fence to the proper thickness and the blade at the desired hight. The parts will fall out clean. It's sometimes is helpful to butt masking tape close to the blade, as the parts fall out they won't get lost.

I like using thick lumber or HDU for this technique. That way there isn't chance for a accident. I could send photo's of the technique but it's so easy and simple it's probably a waste fo time.

A bandsaw works well also. Wish I had a Re-saw bandsaw. That would be perfect for this technique.

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[magic]

Don't use a planer as the vibration causes the parts to jump up and sometimes get cut OR worse jam in the outgoing rollers. I tried doing it that way and had to pull the plug.

[eaglesplsh]

If you're using double-sided tape for this kind of thing, consider cutting with a 1/16" diameter end mill. By reducing the lateral force on your cut, you can get away with low strength adhesive tapes.

I'd clamp melamine on my spoilboard, the tape sticks to it much better than MDF. Then I'd use 3M's semi-permanent tape for posters/paper - you can get it at Staples. It's basically like Post-It note stickum on 2-sided tape. That's all you need for thin parts cut with a tiny end mill like this.

The finished parts will come right off with a putty knife, the tape is easy to remove/replace between runs, and it won't leave any glue residue on your finished part either.