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vacuum bagging sites
I had saved this from an old post. Glenn is a very sharp guy.
Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: "Glenn Ashmore" Newsgroups: rec.boats.building Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 2:07 PM Subject: cheap vacuum bagging The problem is lubrication. Refrigerators circulate oil with the refrigerant to keep the compressor lubricated. When you use it as a vacuum pump there is no oil. You can extend the life a little by squirting a little WD40 in the intake before each session but that is of limited value when the compressor runs 4 or 5 hours at a time. I suspect that the older compressors last longer because they are built "looser". As refrigerators got more energy efficient the compressors have been built to closer and closer tolerances so constant lubrication became more critical. I made a high vacuum system back in science fair days out of an old pre-WWII Kenvinator compressor and used it for several projects. When I started doing woodwork I used it to bag veneers for several years. When it finally died I tried several newer compressors but none lasted more than a couple of sessions. They would run for 10 or 15 minutes and then the thermal switch would kick them off. Ruined a lot of expensive veneer trying to figure a way to keep them running. There are at least 50 vacuum pumps on eBay right now that would be ideal for vacuum bagging. All under $100 and many under $50. Not a bad price considering that if a refrigerator compressor craps out in the middle of a session you could ruin that much material or more. Here are a few that would work. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=11 773 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=26 236 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=26 236 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=46 547 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=46 548 Here is a perfect setup complete with flow guages and tank: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ategory=73 21 William R. Watt wrote: From what GA wrote it would be better to look for an older unit than a later one as I assumed. It could be tested with a car vacuum guage. A vaccum guage costs about $15 at Canadian Tire. I found one at a garage sale last summer for $4 which included a timing light and a remote starter switch. As for burnout maybe the compressor doesn't have to run at full power. Perhaps a light dimmer switch could be used to set it at the speed needed to maintain the vacuum for the particular application. Or 2-3 compressors could be hooked up together and run at lower power off the same dimmer switch. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-freenet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com |
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