I’m primarily a woodworker, but I also do metal work, and I had an idea I wanted to run by you.
Have you ever considered offering a thin, flexible magnetic overlay (similar to a fridge magnet) that could lay on top of your fixture table, pre-cut to align with the existing hole pattern? The goal would be to keep all the functionality of the fixture table while protecting wood projects from contamination or damage from the bare metal top during assembly work.
It would essentially turn the fixture table into a clean assembly surface on demand, then peel right off when I need to switch back to metalwork.
Curious if this is something you’ve explored or seen done before.
Very good call! Anything that would be thin and just give the top a little bit of give and space not to both mar the wood or transfer metal grime/metal dust/flakes, etc., and still allow the hold downs, etc., to be used! Very open to ideas! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, Jason. Absolutely love all the work you put into these beautiful tools!
Could be done oneself. Source a sheet of all-your-minimum and use that woodworking router with a flush trim bit to copy the hole spacing if you want holed through the skin.
I agree, depending on your table size finding someone to cut something or do like Warren suggested.
Lots of different materials, one that comes to mind is what ever they make those plastic cutting mats out of you use in your kitchen. might be a little stiff but I am sure there is something that would work.
I know of a gasket cutting company in MN that has a couple big vacuum tables with CNC routers for cutting all kinds of soft materials, a sheet of Teflon hdpe or similar would work great for this.
Formica makes a great assembly table top. Glue won’t stick to it, and it’s easy to work with. I would probably start without all the holes, and do maybe one in each corner to hold it in place, then only add more holes when needed.
Another option is to just make a cover with sides you can drop over it. I have that for my surface plate made with 1/4 plywood so I can pile more crap on it like every other horizontal surface in my shop.
Magnets around metal working is no bueno for sure.
