ANy experience with this vacuum chamber?

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Well it looks like no one has any experience with this vacuum chamber. Those of you who have some experience with vacuum chambers - do you think this will do the job? Worth the price?
 
Well I'll answer ya. I have a stabilizing chamber from Curtis at TurnTex and I have a JB 6CFM vacuum pump. The one you are referencing should work. And I would say it's worth the money even though I haven't tried it, but it looks ok to me. You'd be happier with a rig costing a lot more but I know sometimes extra money for tools is hard to come by.
Tim.
 
Keith, my vacuum setup is very similar to the one you show and that is about how much I paid. It works quite well and at my altitude in Utah - it pulls the max vacuum it should. You just don't get the side visuals while stabilizing. I did make a plate to hold down the blanks while stabilizing. I'm using Cactus Juice in mine and am happy with the results.
 
I do not have this exact one but have similar 1Gallon stainless steel vacuum chamber. Works fine. Although I have some observations if you are interested.
This is round chamber and if you will be stabilizing round objects you are fine. In case you intend to stabilize pen blanks or so you need to take in consideration that you will be able to put about 4-6 blanks in each layer only and you will need a lot of Cactus Juice(or whatever is you stabilizing agent) as you have 3Gal chamber. You will notice its inconvenience when you do not have enough CJ to cover your blanks. From this perspective rectangular chambers are more convenient.
 
Yes. I bought that one. The camber is nice. Lid is well made and seals well. I am however on my second vacuum pump. The first one blew a seal and leaked all the oil out when holding a vacuum to degas blanks with Cactus Juice. The pump was replaced quickly and without issue.
 
As to the size of the chamber and it being round, I simply put my blanks into a separate container and set them into the pot. I'm using a square plastic food service container. works great.
 
Thanks for the insights! I understand the sq chamber points I had't thought of that!

I am supposed to receive it this week - so as soon as I can get it loaded I will let you know how it works!
 
Stephan, a point of clarification. You don't have to fill the entire chamber. My set-up is also a 3 gal. one. Simply put in enough Cactus Juice to cover the blanks, plus an additional 2 to 3 inches to allow for absorption, then weight them down. Or you can do as Pat suggests and put them in a smaller container. That's also a good way to color small batches without coloring all your Cactus Juice.

In any case, this is how I do it. Not sure if its the best way, so if anyone else has some good ideas, I'd love to hear them.
 
The secondary container keeps me from needing to clean the CJ out of the main chamber as well. And that square container holds blanks quite well and the corner makes it easy to pour left over resin back into the bottle.

I started out with only 1/2 gal of CJ so I have not tried any colored blanks yet. Need to order some more so I can play with that.
 
Gonna have to get some cactus juice and some resin so I can play! I have some manzanita pieces and shavings from Washington Horse Chestnut, Jefferson Tulip Poplar and Mayflower deck that I have been saving to make blanks with!
 
I received the vacuum system - its a 2.5 gal chamber with a 3 CFM pump. I got it all hooked up and can't get it to go beyond 26.5 on the vacuum guage. Is that a problem? Is there something I am missing?
Thanks for your insight!
 
Keith, at your altitude, the most you will be able to pull is about 29.4" of mercury. Have you tried wiping down the the plastic that goes around the rim of the acrylic top? Also, when you start the pump, try putting some slight pressure on the top until the vacuum kicks in.

Good luck!
 
Hi Keith,

My set-up is identical, I put it all together myself but, the items used are pretty much the same, as you can see in 017.JPG

Now, the pumps we are using (I have 3) come with 2 different type of oil caps/breeders, you can see on the images on that listing that, the pump on the first few pics has a different black cap than the very last pic. I believe the last pic show the caps type that first come out on these pumps, then people started to complain about the oily vapours coming out of it so, they made these new caps which allow air in and expel air out when you are bleeding you vacuum chamber.

The thing is, you may not notice as much but, both will spray oily vapours when vacuum from inside the chamber is replaced with air, that vacuum is expelled through that breeder, as pressure builds up inside the pumps sump.

There are easy ways to prevent that oily vapours to mess up your area or even breath the damn thing, on my first pump, I had the older type cap with the expelling ports pointing upwards, you can simply make something like what I did here, all you need is a paper towel, an 8oz empty bottle of CA or Accelerator and a sharp knife/scissors,
001.JPG004.JPG008.JPG011.JPG012.JPG

With the new type black caps, you don't need the empty bottle on top of the breather as the vapours are expelled downwards, from some vents underneath that cap so, without something to absorb those oily vapours, oil will run out and down the sump housing and into the table or wherever the pump is seating on.

You should also get some spare vacuum pump oil and change it after a few good uses. I also suggest that, you bleed the oil for any water inside, it always forms water at the bottom of the oil so, the best way to drain it is after the pump has rested for some hours.

The small bleeding screw, can be a pain to loosen enough to allow the water to come out and not falling off you hands very easily and letting more oil be lost that what it should so, you can always make a easy to bleed screw, following the principals I use on mine, like this,
019.JPG020.JPG

Any other details you need to talk about is just let me know...!

Cheers
George
 
Good chamber, yes. Worth the price, not so much (for me). My set up is a HF vacuum pump on sale and with 25% off coupon on top of that. The chamber is a 20 inch tall 6 inch diameter acrylic vase with a 1/2" Plexiglas lid and the same valves and gauge you have. Whole set up about $90 and it will do 16 pen planks at a time with 15 inches of head space for foam. I just like to tinker and build my own stuff and this is one of my projects that actually worked to perfection. I am going to build another one soon for larger pieces. I am using one of those clear acrylic canisters with the hinge lid that clamps down. Its about a gallon and a half in size. I'm not putting a gauge on it because I know my pump will bottom it out from the other chamber. So for anyone wanting to build your own its easy. HF has the pump and the fittings needed. Your only limitations are the size of container you want. Before I am finished I may have 3 or four chambers of different sizes of clip top canisters. Maybe I should do a tutorial on how to build one for You tube.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom