NEW: VCS-R vacuum clamping system for Festool guide rail

simonh

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I’m a hobbyist / maker. During making many fitted units using sheet goods I wanted a better way to secure the Festool guide rail to sheet goods including melamine, plywood, MDF and even sheets of acrylic. Some of these surfaces are slick and the guide rail can tend to slip, not good when you are cutting frameless cupboard doors perfectly square from sheets of MFMDF costing upwards of £150/$200. I wanted a quick easy way to clamp the guide rail while I made the cut without using traditional clamps that require access to the underside of the sheet and can often cause the rail to slip when you apply pressure.  I designed some vacuum clamping pods that connect to a vacuum pump (not a dust extractor / vacuum cleaner) and then just simply drop into the rail and use a ¼ turn of a valve to apply and release the pressure quickly. 

I’ve now used these for over a year on various project and they’ve gone through a few design iterations. After showing some woodworking friends they liked the idea encouraged me to make a few.

I’ve just made my first production run and have a limited number of sets available. During design and development, I took the decision that they should be built from high-quality components, so all the pneumatics connectors are Festo and they are engineered from POM engineering plastic which is durable but also forgiving enough not to damage the delicate surfaces.

I’ve attached a few pictures at the bottom of the post showing them in use. And I’ve also put a couple of YouTube videos online:


They are listed for sale on e-bay UK (with ebay international shipping enabled):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114077757491
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114077879077 incl KD4-CK-6 connector suitable for VAC-SYS

Any questions just drop me a PM.

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Guide Rail Vacuum Clamp System (VCS-R) for Festool® guide rail tracks

What is it?

A high-quality accessory designed to firmly clamp your Festool guide rail to MDF*, Plywood, Laminate, Acrylic with the use of a vacuum pump. CNC machined from POM engineering plastic with push fit Festo pneumatic connectors.

Benefits

• Improve safety. No more trying to hold down the rail while pushing the saw along!
• Compatible with Festool® and similar guide rails
• Quick ‘no tool required’ attachment and removal.
• Speed up your workflow and save time.  No more fiddling with clamps.
• Works without access to the underside of the material, ideal for breaking down sheets flat on the bench / floor.
• Optional secure mounting for use even on vertical surfaces.
• Unlike clamps it doesn’t shift the rail position when clamping force is applied.
• Works with the TSO Guide Rail Square and Parallel Guide System. No rail slippage even on long cuts.

How do I use it?
Align the rail to your cut mark. Place a couple of VCS-R modules in the groove of the rail. Turn the valve a quarter turn. Make the cut. Afterwards, turn the valve quarter turn to release the vacuum pressure. Perfect cuts every time!

What else do I need?
You need a vacuum clamping pump such as the Festool VAC-SYS or another system such as VacuPress. We can supply a Festo KD4 connection at extra cost to connect to the Festool VAC-SYS pump. For other systems you will need an adaptor from 8mm O.D tubing to your system. You also need a Festool or similar guide rail.

*Due to the porous nature of MDF vacuum pressure may be reduced but in testing there was still enough suction down to 9mm MDF to hold a guide rail secure enough to make a cut.
 

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[member=66875]simonh[/member] That's really cool what you've come up with. I envision a setup with a splitter to hold down cabinet sides to a vac sys head while simultaneously clamping the LR-32 rail to the top for line boring. Would this be possible? @ $265 USD to get it delivered it's too rich for me currently but I do hope you continue to put these kits together in the future.
 
Thanks for your support. Great idea! I'll look into what fittings are available for splitting the line to support both usages simultaneously.

I went through the eBay global shipping programme to take care of all the international stuff at this moment. Hopefully, in future there may be a free trade agreement between UK / US / Canada would be beneficial not only for you guys to get Festool stuff from the UK but also for my addiction to Incra and Jessem tools!
 
simonh said:
Thanks for your support. Great idea! I'll look into what fittings are available for splitting the line to support both usages simultaneously.

I went through the eBay global shipping programme to take care of all the international stuff at this moment. Hopefully, in future there may be an opportunity to have a reseller state-side eliminate the need for such a service and international postage costs. That, and a free trade agreement between UK / US / Canada would be beneficial not only for you guys to get Festool stuff from the UK but also for my addiction to Incra and Jessem tools!

In looking at pictures of the LR-32 setup since I haven't used mine in a while it looks like your pods would clear the LR-32 base plate. And the router plunges on the cutting side of the rail so no issues there. Festool supplies the necessary splitter components integral with the second head accessory for their pump with a built in shut off valve. I envision having your heads permanently connected to the pump via this splitter and when you need to do LR-32 stuff you just turn the valve down at the pump and off you go. Using quick clamps or screw clamps with the rail is a little cumbersome when line boring and I think your pods would be just the ticket.

If you need to send me some for ahem evaluation. .purposes.

Matt
 
That's an interesting approach.  [smile]  Good choice on using Delrin type material.

Have you used these in a vertical application?

Did you ever compare the VCS-R to the Festool Gecko option?
 
[member=15129]Simon H[/member] - Thanks for posting - you've given me some great ideas! [hint - a set of slightly rectangular shop-made Vac-Clamp-inspired (and Peter Halle- Peter Halle inspired) HDPE clamping "holdowns" - powered by my air compressor (not a vac pump) modified with a kerf to accept the raised profile of the guide rail).]
 
Thanks to everyone who's purchased them or given feedback.

I don't see why they shouldn't work with a LR32 rail. None of the vacuum pod protrudes beyond the T channel and the height is only 16mm so barely above the rail. I've used them with a router on the rail to clean-up the edge of some melamine that was used for doors where I wanted both faces perfectly chip free.

There are a couple of M6 bolts and nuts to fix the pods to the rail either for permanent use rather than dropping them in/out and also suitable if you need to affix to a vertical surface. The only use I have tried with them in that position was on the bottom of a door after fitting some new flooring. They worked fine although I felt less comfortable man-handling a saw in the vertical position even though I've watched professional chippies do that procedure numerous times! I'm not sure what you have in mind as I've seen some people designing vertical panel saw type systems but you'd have to try it and see if that was your thought as I have no experience of that.

The key advantage over the Gecko would be a wider range of materials that can be used with an active vacuum system. Just like with the Vac-Sys work holding clamping theres no problem with things like plywood, most solid wood, melamine, acrylic etc.  When used with MDF there is a loss of suction due to the porous nature of the material, but because it is only holding a rail to the surface I've found that the suction is adequate even on 9mm plywood to make a good accurate cut.

I've no experience of using an air-compressor system for vacuum clamping. I remember seeing Peter Halle video at the start of my journey, and the original prototype that I still keep isn't too dissimilar to what you are describing :)

*edited as noted below*
 
[member=66875]simonh[/member]  I think you need to edit the first sentence of your post above. Omit the second word?

PS. Your very rational and 100% correct IME review of the TSO parallel guide system gives me more confidence that your clamps are well though out and ready for work.
 
Michael Kellough said:
[member=66875]simonh[/member]  I think you need to edit the first sentence of your post above. Omit the second word?

PS. Your very rational and 100% correct IME review of the TSO parallel guide system gives me more confidence that your clamps are well though out and ready for work.

Or replace it with "to"?  [big grin]
 
Thanks for pointing out the errors in my post. I must find out how to get Grammerly working in my browser to at least catch my basic grammatical errors!

It should have read that "I don't see why they shouldn't work" with the LR32.
 
I don't think these are being produced anymore. I'm fortunate to have a pair that I use with the LR-32 jig as I've posted in other threads. I recently picked these Rocker Vacuum Clamp Pods to play around with. After looking them over it dawned on me if someone were so inclined they could make an adapter to use them with their guide rail much the same as the VCS-R.

53418-01-1000.jpg


The black tabs that the T-bolts pass through are screwed into the back of the pods. The pods are thicker than the guide rails. It would be pretty straightforward to remove the black tabs and T-bolt securing fasteners from one side of the pod and fabricate an adapter to attach to the Festool or whatever brand guide rail.
 
Hey Matt, did you pick those Rockler vacuum pods up after the other posts lately?  Couple questions after you play with them for awhile. 

1. What pump are you using?
2. If you have a pump that cycles and can tell if they leak around the little ball button/valve?

  I have been curious about those but suspect they leak as I dont see any that have a o-ring seal its all metal on metal seat/seal from what I can tell and have very little faith that chinas machining process on whats probably 100k+ units per month has tight enough tolerance for a good vacuum seal. If you have a continuous pump its not as big of an issue. But constantly cycling pumps gets on my nerves so, I once again just went through my vacuum system again today as I had a small leak I couldnt find and it ended up being one of the pneumatic valves.  I had one that I reused and it had gotten hit with the garage door a few times so it must have gotten damaged.  Its hard to find vacuum leaks I ended up putting in an adaptor so I could hook the air compressor to the system and used water soap to find it.  Swapped out the valve and ran another test of 60 min. with everything on and no cycle of the vacuum pump.  I had to stop it at 60min, because I had to leave.  I will try another test but 60+ min. its waaaay more than I hoped for so Im very happy for now.   
 
[member=73094]afish[/member] I'm using the Festool pump so I don't think I can answer your question about leaking.
 
afish said:
[thumbs up]

What I can tell you is that curiously, Rockler went with an M10x1 thread for the ports. This has made it near impossible to source fittings. I'm converting the pods to use 6mm push connect so I can interchange them with the tubing I already use with the VCS-R.

 
Luckily it looks like 1/8 npt is just slightly bigger than m10 Its very close though.  so close the 1/8 npt might thread in if its plastic. Oh, wait I was looking at the 10x1.5 the 10x1 looks like a bigger drill size.  That is probably going to mess you up. They dont look thick enough to accept a 1/4 npt judging by the photo.
 
They aren't big enough. I have some 1/4 npt. I found the M10x1 to 6mm PC fitting from Amazon with a possible 1-2 month ship time. I'm in no rush to use these they're just to play around with for some jigs I have in mind.

As to why Rockler did not use 1/8 npt, being a US company, is beyond me. It's like finding a metric bolt on my Harley. It's rare but it happens.
 
The countertop industry has been using vacuum clamps for a long time. They are used to lift slabs in the warehouse and they are used for edge-joining slabs.  Amazon carries one system.  This is an industrial grade piece, but selling on Amazon suggests it is produced to a price point.
https://www.amazon.com/IMT-Seam-Setters/dp/B07PWQTY2M?th=1

The glass and the stone slab industries make perfect sense for this application.  The surfaces are typically smooth and non-porous.  Wood would seem to be less suited for this system because of the grain and the porosity. 

 
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