An apparatus for cutting sheet material as a cantilever vacuum table with a fluid permeable support surface upon which sheet material may be spread. A movable vacuum box supported below the surface of the table defines a vacuum chamber and is connected outboard of a free edge of the table to a carriage assembly which moves a blade in cutting relation to material spread on the table in response to signals received from a programmable controller. The vacuum box moves with the blade and relative to the table to apply vacuum to a limited area of the table immediately surrounding the cutting region of the blade.