a good way to keep a sheet of veneer flat on the crumb tray?
Every sheet of veneer I’ve used, whether PG or not, has some kind of curl to it. I understand that’s natural, it’s wood, and it has variations. I have no problem with that. But it makes it hard to position the image when the scanner doesn’t have a good focus on the material, and the fan can blow some of the lighter pieces out of position. I’ve used blue painter’s tape, but it doesn’t have the stickum power to hold fast to the honeycomb surface of the crumb tray. I have some Gorilla tape, but that stuff will pull your skin off, let alone a relatively delicate surface of veneer. Not to mention, it ain’t cheap, and I’ve got other things to use it for.
I’ve considered metal weights, but the weight heavy enough to hold the curl down is likely to be too thick to fit under the gantry. How about some strong neodymium magnet? Would that work?
Any advice here would be appreciated, though I might not be smart enough to take it.
I have been using super strong magnets for over a year. They work great. Not only on veneer, but on all materials. The only issue you may have is small pieces could still blow around. You’ll not be able to hold those down with magnets. I’ve not had a lot of trouble with that but haven’t made a lot of intricate cuts on veneer.
Agreed. I use a variety of neodymium magnets depending on how much pressure is needed to hold it down and how big the area I can stick the magnet is. You can get magnets that are pretty small but should still be able to hold down some veneer pieces.
Safety Tip for these beyond wrapping in duct tape for handles.
They are very hard, and as such will shatter rather easily.
The edges of a shattered magnet will be extremely sharp, and as such may scratch the tempered glass top of the Glowforge (causing it to turn into safe little BB’s).
There is also spray adhesive to hold it down to something stable and then removed after. And double stick tape can also work. In extreme you can tape down all the edges but that does nothing for mid cut flyaways .
Personally I have not found a spray adhesive I like but do have double stick tape.
I use a combo of the above methods – A very flat piece of ply with repositionable spray adhesive (to hold the fiddly bit) on its top secured to the honeycomb bed with wood pins, plus tape-wrapped neo magnets to hold the veneer in place on the adhesive surface. Overkill? Maybe – but it works for me.
There are also commercial tack-mats for this purpose, such as the Selkima line shown in the link.
can you “press” the veneer in between sheets of glass for a while before you drop it into the glowforge.? perhaps that would minimize the curve when you are ready?
I have been thinking about tht. You would have to build your own crumb tray and pull the air out through the rear pass-through slot and then to a filter as it would be smokey but in theory it would be do-able.
