My company is thinking about buying a CNC machine, and I am the guy to lead the charge. A couple things I am trying to figure out is how to hold the material down, and also what if anything goes between the material and the table itself?

So as I am reading I learned that there are vacuum hold down tables, however I can also get T slot table to allow me to hard mount this material. What is better, and are there still other alternatives?

Also, how do you cut the material without cutting the table? I know the Z height is controlled but to route completely through, the tooling will for sure contact the table? I was doing some reading in finding something inexpensive to place between the material, and the table, but then that presents issues with vacuum.

Thanks in advance for the replies,
Craig