Looking for some help connecting my Robinair vacuum pump

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Nick Rocco

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Jan 7, 2016
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Cleveland
I purchased a new Robinair Model: 15310 vacuum pump to use with my diy vacuum chamber and some Cactus Juice that I purchased from TurnTex. (Props to Curtis on some super fast shipping. I thought I would have more time to figure out the plumbing before the juice arrive. Boy was I wrong) According to the manual the intake port is listed as "1/4 in. Flare & 1/2 in. ACME". I am trying to connect it to a brass hose barb with a 1/4" male pipe thread. I purchased a fitting from McMaster Carr that is a 1/4" female flair to a 1/4" male pipe thread and was planning to use it with 1/4" coupling. The only problem is that the fitting from McMaster will not thread onto the pump fitting.

Can anyone help in figuring out the correct fitting to get me from the pump to the hose barb?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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Check with Curtis, he will almost certainly be able to advise.

I was on his site yesterday and saw that he sells an adapter of some kind which he described as not commonly available -- adapts 'common' vacuum pump fittings designed for automotive a/c maintenance to the standard airline fittings.
 
The part is available on my website under Parts to Build Your Own Chamber. Not going to provide a link here so as to not break the rules. It is listed at a Vacuum Pump Adapter and is absolutely the correct part.
 
Thanks for the input! The 6an does not look correct but the part list on TurnTex looks like it will do the trick.

Curtis, the order is on it's way.

Thanks again for all of the help!

Tim, let me know if you need a link.
 
The fittings can often be had at appliance repair stores, they sell them for people doing HVAC work.
 
I received my fitting from Turntex and it worked perfectly. Until my vacuum chamber imploded that is. What a mess! But the fitting was just what I needed.
 
WOW! Do you have a photo? I also purchased Cactus juice, have a compressor and a diy vacuum chamber. It is a pickle jar. Wondering what an implosion looks like.
 

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Rockytime, many folks have and do use pickle jars for vacuum chambers. Just keep an eye on it and inspect if for any cracks before use every time. I stabilized hundreds of blanks in a pickle jar before I started Cactus Juice and started building chambers engineered for this use with no issue. Now, this is not an endorsement or recommendation to use pickle jars in any way due to liability issues!

One thing to note...get rid of the valve between the pump and chamber. I know you have seen them on other chambers for sale but they were not originally designed for stabilizing. With stabilizing, you need to keep the pump running the entire time. This is because you are not actually sucking the air out of the wood directly with vacuum. You are creating an area of lower pressure in the space above the resin. Nature likes to seek equilibrium so the higher pressure air in the wood flows out of the wood to seek the lower pressure above the resin. As soon as you close the valve and turn the pump off, you have stopped vacuum at the lowest pressure it will get to. As the air from the wood moves to the lower pressure above the resin, the pressures begin to equalize and the vacuum level immediately begins to drop. You may not see it on a typical gauge but hook up a more precise digital micron gauge and you will see the vac level dropping off quickly. If vacuum level is dropping, so the the air coming out of the wood. Keeping the pump running will maintain the lowest pressure level you pump can produce above the resin by removing the higher pressure from the wood as it comes out. This in turn will shorten your overall processing time and get more resin into the wood.
 
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