Need help with vaccuum jig please

[cubicdissection]

I've made up a corian spoilboard for my BT48 - has a 3x3 grid of threaded inserts and another offset 3x3 grid for indexing dowel pins. Now that it's done I'm ready for the first jig to make my first product with it.

Goal is to use the bot to mill slots in 1" square stock for a puzzle product. There will be a bunch of 3" long sticks in cradles. I'd like to set something up that uses vaccuum pressure to keep the pieces in.

My questions are:
-Would it be better to run a fein III type system? I'm sure I could rig something to support the hose for the table since it's only moving back and forth 24" max. Or, I could run shop air and use venturi valves like the ones available here:http://www.anver.com/document/vacuum%20components/vacuum%20generators/pumps-jv.htm

-How much area exposed to the vacuum will I need to hold the sticks down? I'll be making 1/2" deep cuts with a 1/2" bit, and the square stick will be supported about 1/3 of the way up the sides in a cradle. Will also be making 1/2" deep cuts with a V bit, and the piece mounted diagonally. Would a couple access slots for vaccuum be sufficient assuming accurate stock for a nice flush fit into the cradle?

[daniel]

Hi Eric,
Here are my two cents, and there not worth much. I just built a vacuum system for my prt 48, I purchased the fein III and it work well, but the parts I'm trying to hold range from pretty small to odd shape(pipe). So although I'm happy with the fein III, I think I am about to purchase two specialty vacuum motors. They are higher porformance than a fein III and They are also cheaper. You can read about them in Bradys open source vacuum project. Do a search, or I'm sure someone will post a link.

[cubicdissection]

Thanks Daniel. After some research and talking to a couple other maker type friends, I think I'm gonna go with low tech toggle clamps for this project since I have a bit of a deadline. Rushing on this would be a mistake, and I can always use more toggle clamps anyway