Porvair unveils new vacuum hold-down cutting table covers
Porvair's Vyon F material is used increasingly as a sacrificial layer in many companies critical composite printing, forming and cutting programmes.
This compliant, non-marking and yet resilient material has a high degree of porosity, with a very regular pore size distribution that, when vacuum is drawn through it, holds a wide range of materials uniformly like a vice. Its sintered composition ensures that the material is securely held together to minimise any potential contamination. This pre-flattened material can be welded into large sheets or loose rolled so that even the largest tables can be potentially covered in a single piece.
For more challenging jobs such as cutting leather or rubber, Vyon PPF can be used as an alternative to Vyon F. Made with a stronger polymer, it is used in applications where more pressure is applied and a more durable substrate is required. It is also supplied pre-flattened in large sheets. Vyon PPF is harder than Vyon F and together with correct knife settings, helps avoid deep scarring when cutting tough materials, which can lead to shorter table life and interfere with optical registration systems.
A third material, Vyon SPF, designed specifically for more delicate substrates, is the most recent advance in Porvair’s family of vacuum hold down products. This new material successfully brings all the attributes that the general vacuum hold down market requires within a single material. Made from spherical polymer particles and supplied in large sheets, this fully sintered material is extremely resilient, yet smooth with no sharp edges that might snag delicate cloths such as silk and engineered open mesh sportswear fabrics for example.
Porvair’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Trevor Waghorn said: “Vacuum cutting table covers are critical to the safe handling, precision cutting, forming, and printing of highly technical composite materials used in the manufacture of products such as aircraft, yachts, cars, and high speed trains, and for printing applications in super-wide format for billboards and truck side-panels.
“Our new vacuum hold-down materials are meeting market needs through a variety of desirable characteristics including strength, durability, smoothness, and high porosity, achieving dependable results and excellent holding power.
“This market is fast growing and these new innovations help to address needs that have arisen against a backdrop of more lightweight super-strong engineered composites being developed. Porvair is committed to sustained innovation that continues to benefit our sectors, achieving heightened efficiency, while lowering operating costs for customers. Attaining the best possible cut quality is essential for this industry, and these materials represent a huge advantage in realising that goal.”
Porvair Filtration Group – which has supplied the aerospace, nuclear, energy, process and bioscience industries with performance-driven filtration equipment for almost 30 years – manufactures in both the UK and USA and has an extensive network of sales offices and distribution channels throughout the world.
