Vacuum plates

Abstract

A vacuum plate system comprises a support plate (310) formed of a plurality of support plate modules (320-380) that are supported on a base plate, and serve to transfer vacuum between vacuum apertures in the base plate and a workpiece held on the support plate (310). The support plate module (340) is formed with a plurality of circular lip seals (341) of larger size, and disposed therebetween, a plurality of lip seals (349) of smaller size. The area within each of the lip seals (341, 349) has a small hole extending through the respective support plate module, to transfer vacuum in a restricted manner. The remaining support plate modules are of a similar configuration, but with variations. In machining of a workpiece held on the support plate modules (320-280), the modules may be cut into, without risk of losing the vacuum overall holding effect on the workpiece. The specification discloses various other support plates.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.