Venturi Vacuum System

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Scruffy

Scruffy

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Has anyone looked at the Vacuum System profiled in Woodsmith Magazine. Vol 34 No. 204.

It allows one to make use of an existing air compressor to build the basis for Vacuum system. While it is not mentioned, I was looking at it and wondered if it could also support a stabilizing setup as defined by Curtis.

At first glance, I think it comes away as being too light weight. It appears that the system as shown maxs out at 25" of mercury. I'm trying to see it might go higher but I think that is lower than what Curtis's approach require.

If anyone has tried a similar system I would be interested in your opinions.
 
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From what I have heard and I have not seen one working but they take a lot of air to run them.

Lin.
 
That is what I used to stabilize my blanks. While it does max out at 25", it does the job for me. On average the weight of my blanks are doubled in wight after the process. After baking the blanks in a toaster oven for a couple of hours, I get good penetration to the centre of the blanks. So far, I have done some, birch, salted white oak and Manitoba maple with good success. I use Resinol 90C as my vacuum juice.
 
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OK, what kind of compressor air compressor do you use.

I have a 5 gal air compressor that I have used for air brushing, painting and cleaning off wood projects.

It will go to 120 psi. and hold for a good 15-20 minutes of constant use.

Is this comparable to yours? Or is yours stronger?
 
I made a venturi vacuum system out of a $15 vacuum pump from Harbor Freight. Once you pull the vacuum down as much as you can you isolate it from pressure operating the venturi pump and if your joints are tight it will hold the pressure. then you just top it off as needed. This way you don't have the noisy venturi pump running all the time.
 
Venturi pumps are ok but there are better options for less money. I would rather see you use a refrigerator compressor if budget is the concern. Venturi pumps are loud and are constantly cycling your compressor. If you really want venturi, take a look at the HF one. It will pull closer to a 29" vacuum.

A 25" rated vacuum is only an 83.55% vacuum. Remember, full vacuum is 29.92" (at sea level) and the definition of full vacuum is the absence of all molecules. For stabilizing purposes, the absence of all air. The more air you can remove from the chamber and thus the wood, the more resin you can get back into the wood. An HF venturi pump is rated to 29" or a 96.9% vacuum. A refrigerator compressor will usually pull around a 97% vacuum, at least mine will.

I have a HF venturi, a refrigerator compressor pump, and two rotary vane pumps. Of course I prefer the rotary vane pumps since they will pull the best vacuum of the ones I have. If you can swing it, you can pick up a Robinaire 15310 rotary vane pump for around $120 delivered from Amazon. I have one as a back up/demo pump and it is fairly good. It is an Asian import which I am not fond of but pulls almost as deep of a vacuum as my $300 American made JB.
 
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