Chuck Sherwood wrote:
I managed to get the welch 1400 pump off ebay for $130. I picked it
up last night and it looks good. The seller stated that his father
owned it for AC work but stated he never saw him use it. The inlet
had AC fittings on it (and was capped) so it appears it was used
for AC work.

I have no way to test it, other than putting my finger over the intake
and observing that it does suck. The noise changes considerably as
the vacuum is built up. Opening the gas ballast also increases the
noise a lot when the input is capped.

This pump should work much better than a converted AC compressor
and was a turn-key operation for 130. can't beat that!

I will probably pick up a cheap automotive vacuum gauge to get a
rough idea if its working well.

thanks for all the help
chuck

Good luck with the experiments. I'd be interested to see some pictures
sometime!

Chris