MFT top doubling as sanding table - daft?

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Deadeye

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I might take the plunge (see what I did there?) and build an MFT top into part of the finishing table I'm planning.
Is trying to box in the space below and attaching a 4" dust port, so that air gets sucked down through the holes, a daft idea?
 
Hi! Is it too create a vacuum to hold the workpiece down, or for dust extraction?

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won't boxing it in be a pain trying to get underneath it? some dogs are screwed in aren't they?

personally I would use it as a sanding table, but so that you can clamp items to it and use a sander with decent extraction on the tool.
 
You will drop things through the holes and need to fish them out... if they don't get sucked out first ;)
 
Deadeye":3bnkqmc3 said:
I guess I could easily add an access panel
Another thing I'd suggest for the design stage is to work in some means of supporting the MDF top to alleviate sag. I got fed up with my 2 tops sagging - yeah, you can flip them but you only remember to do that after they've sagged. I worked (bodged) in 2 different ways of supporting the middles.

The proper MFT3 has legs folded up ready to go and sits on a lockable wheeled base. I bashed together a couple of adjustable supports using some threaded rod, some t nuts and a wide base with a smaller top piece if that makes any sense. These sit on top of the base unit and allow the MFT to be removed with zero interference.

My other beefy bench has two fixed supports placed not to interfere with the hole pattern as best I could. You still end up clamping off them sometimes but never been any major problem.
 
The place I worked before retiring had a number of downdraft tables. Most with cartridge filters and a pair with water filtration. We were deburing aerospace metals after machining and they still let dust escape. The filtered ones were 32 square feet in area drawing 3000cfm with a 5hp motor. The 4" pipe you want to use can only draw between 350cfm (usual) to 450cfm (max) through it no matter how big the DC is. So that would limit you to about a 4 square foot area at most. The top's holes spreading that out but the draw around each hole not capturing dust very far from itself. So better is a 6" pipe (flow of 1000cfm) if your DC can handle it. I would have a hood over and opposite where you stand (backdraft) to pull in the dust that escapes the sander away from you, assuming you are using a sander hooked up to a vacuum cleaner/extractor of some kind. Reposition the wood as you work to keep the area sanded as close to the hood as practicable. Wear a mask and don't take it off after you are done as there will still be dust in the air for some time. Run the DC to scrub the air after until cleaned and or ventilate.

Pete
 
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