Eric Anderson wrote:
I REALLY would like to get everyone's opinion on the rec about
this.
I bought a couple of Gast carbon vane vacuum pumps some time
ago. I have looked at Joe Woodworker. I have talked to Gast
and other vacuum pump companies. For the life of me, I don't
know why anyone would buy anything but a rotary vane pump.
The Gast 522 series(older model) and 523 series have 4.5 cfm
at 26", use 1/4 hp motors, are pulse free and don't have any
startup problems. I run these directly with no fancy shutoff
or unload valves or accumulators. They run continuously
during the vacuum clamping operation. Why wouldn't everyone
use this pump for vacuum clamping applications? Why does Joe
Woodworker have all the claptrap to do the same job? These
pumps sell for slightly over $100 on Ebay and somewhere just
over $200 new. They are quiet and long lasting (thousands of
hours on a set of vanes).
I am slated to do a demonstration for our woodworker's guild
in about 6 months and I am trying to get all kinds of
information about vacuum clamping, venier work and other
applications for vacuum so I can give a good presentation. I
would like any and all ideas that would be useful to present
to the guild.
Eric...
My vacuum clamping generally involves holding 1" and 2" lumber in
place on a table so I can attack it with a 5 HP router with a
typical feed rate of 1.5"/second.
My quite adequate vacuum clamping system (complete) cost less
than US$35. The vacuum pump is an old refrigerator compressor
that saw 20 years of service before I got it; and the puck-type
vacuum clamps are shop built.
I should probably say that I sell puck kits - but I encourage
people to build their own - and have a web page that tells how to
build vacuum pucks at
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/assembly.html
If you hunt around the site a bit, you can see the setup where I
use the vacuum clamps and can probably spot my "vacuum pump".
--
Morris Dovey
West Des Moines, Iowa USA
C links at
http://www.iedu.com/c
Read my lips: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.