Re: Looking for good experience with veneer compan
tomshobby said:
It is just a fancy compressor that inhales.
It looks like an oil-filled rotary pump for air conditioning service. If so, it’s overkill for vacuum pressing. (I’m a big fan of overkill, but overkill of one good thing at the expense of other good things may not be optimal.) It will work fine, but there are a couple things to watch out for.
Oil-filled rotary pumps are designed for medium-high vacuum, low flow applications. Vacuum pressing doesn’t need anywhere near so much vacuum. Yours may be a bit slow pumping down but it will get there. The extra clamping force with the higher vacuum is only a few percent.
Most commercial vacuum veneer press systems use compressed air powered venturis to generate vacuum. But some will use oil-less mechanical pumps.
One thing to watch out for when using an oil-filled pump is backstreaming of oil into your process. If you lose power while pumping they sometimes blorp oil out of the inlet. It probably won’t be a big problem in your vacuum veneering setup since they usually have low evacuated volume but it’s something to be aware of.
You’ll probably want to put a valve in the line to the press. If your bag seals well you’ll be able to pump it down, valve it off, turn off the pump and let it sit till it dries. If it leaks you’ll have to pump it down occasionally until it sets.
Brosky said:
...How big are these vacuum machines? Are they small workshop compatible or do you need a full sized shop for having one be effective?...
Commercial systems designed for small shops are about the size of a shoebox. You shouldn’t have any trouble cobbling a similarly small one together from surplus bits.
PC.