Vacuum or Pressure Pot?

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Rockytime

Rockytime

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Arvada, CO 80003
I just need a simple answer as I know nothing about this HF business. Am I getting this correctly? Vacuum is used to withdraw air from wood so that the wood will absorb a solution to stabilize it and pressure is used for casting plastic blanks so that bubbles do not form. Also is the same HF pot used for both pressure and vacuum? Geez, so much to learn but it's fun. More opportunity to spend more money which I don't have. :>)
 
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A pressure pot can be used for vacuum but it will not allow you to observe the bubbling of the air out of the wood so it is usually a bit easier to use some kind of transparent vacuum chamber rather than a pressure pot.
 
Answer to your first question is: yes. Vacuum is used to pull the air out of the dry wood so that resin fills the voids in the fibers. Pressure is used to reduce the size of the bubbles in the resin so that they are not visible. The mentioned HF pot can be built for both pressure and vacuum. I love the idea mentioned above about a transparent lid...I just have a different connection for vacuum on my lid.
 
 
lorbay said:
I use a 3/4" acrylic lid on my pressure pot when I am doing vacuum.
Lin
Click to expand...

Me too. Got a chunk of scrap polycarbonate out of the bin at the plastic house, put it on a screw chuck on the lathe and spun the outside to size. The I cut a groove for a gasket and took it off the lathe and poured a 30 shore D rubber into it to make a gasket. Drilled and tapped the center to take a pipe fitting for the hose. Works fine.
Under vacuum with Cactus juice you will get crazing from the juice degrading the plastic, but it only affects the visual not the performance.
 
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