Hi Cactus
I made a wood table "MDF" it consists of 3 curved bearers and a top sheet.
1 bearer down each side and 1 down the middle which is slightly higher to give the table a convex shape.
You also need to put a couple of end pieces on and a middle brace.
So you chould say its a box with an open bottom.
I do a half bag setup by that I mean I routered a slot in the top around the table close to the edge.
To use it I put the timber on the table lay a plastic sheet over it and seal it by squashing a length of tube in the slot all the way around "zip lock".
The vacuum hose comes through a hole in the table from the bottom.
You need no breather as the wood is porus.
Don't forget you must seal the MDF as it is porus.
3 sheets of 3mm or 4mm work best with this method.
A fridge pump is fine, though I now have a better one
Cheers
Pete