Ignoramus1782 fired this volley in
:
All this leads me to the conclusion that something is wrong with the
vacuum pump on this station. Would you say that it should provide very
strong suction?

Iggy, there are four things that go wrong with the Pace stations, and at
least two of them are "intentional".

In the solder collection tube is a serpentine piece of aluminum strapping
used to trap and cool the solder. That can collect so much flux and
metal that nothing can get past it in the collector.

Upwind (vacuum side) of the strap is a cotton felt plug used to prevent
droplets from passing into the vacuum line. It gets solid-filled with
flux vapor, and will fail to pass air. Just massage it in a beaker of
denatured alcohol to clean it, then thoroughly dry it before re-use.
Replace if it's too gunked up with solder chips.

Further upwind, inside the base is a pancake filter. It, too will get
rosin vapor deposited on the fabric. Once plugged, you must replace it.

Those are the three Intentional blockages -- all protection features of
the system.

The fourth area of failure is the vane pump. It has graphite vanes and
end-plates. They wear. They can be replaced easily, if you access to
the parts.

LLoyd