My New Vacuum Pump

[supLaz]

I use a second hand Thomas/Gardner Denver vac pump from some  medical technology applications.
It's cheap ( ebay: € 50-200,00)
oil free
quiet
2 way, vac pump/compressor ( for airbrush)
for non stop use

[Dwight (DW)]

What do you guys thinkof this pump?

Waste of money. Those spit oil and run out of oil half way thru bag job.

[55NSup]

DW,  thanks for the tip. I already have a small oiless diaphragm pump that had 6l/  min capacity i used on kiteboards.  spec says it works up to 5m2. I was worried it us too small. See enclosed spec. that oil pump was not too expensive, next pump up from mine at R&G composites costs 789€.  Ouch!!  See spec sheet.
 


You have any other suppliers in Europe!?
Guess I will test out the small pump before investing in bigger. I can use vacuum cleaner to suck out most of the air I guess...

[55NSup]

Here is spec for bigger pump...

[supLaz]

What do you guys thinkof this pump?

Waste of money. Those spit oil and run out of oil half way thru bag job.

100% agree DW
This kinds of vacuum pumps are mostly only usable to fill/refill of airco systems.

[supLaz]

55NSup

Take this for a small pocket and you are ready for the jobs.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Profi-Thomas-USA-930-mbar-Vakuumpumpe-Kompressor-Refurbished-olfrei-f-CFK-GFK-/331291207105?pt=Laborgeräte_instrumente&hash=item4d227ea5c1

http://www.timeout.de/vakuumtechnik/sonstiges/harzabscheider-klein-volumen-ca-5-l

[55NSup]

55NSup

Take this for a small pocket and you are ready for the jobs.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Profi-Thomas-USA-930-mbar-Vakuumpumpe-Kompressor-Refurbished-olfrei-f-CFK-GFK-/331291207105?pt=Laborgeräte_instrumente&hash=item4d227ea5c1

http://www.timeout.de/vakuumtechnik/sonstiges/harzabscheider-klein-volumen-ca-5-l

Ok, that looks reasonable price.  can I regulate pressure directly on the pump?  Or do I have to buy and inline regulator? 
Do I really need a catch pot?  I dont use one now.

[PonoBill]

Easy to make a catch pot, and the first time resin runs into your pump will be the last, unless you are capable of a rebuild. I regulate pressure with a pressure switch to turn the pump on and off, and an accumulator to keep the pump from cycling too often. If your bag is well sealed the pump will cycle about once an hour. It's also a good idea to have an unloader valve so the vacuum pump doesn't try to start against vacuum. That's what the second little tank (pvc pipe) is in my version. There's a check valve before the accumulator, an unloader, and a buffer tank on the outlet of the vac pump. Once the unloader valve closes (when the pump starts) the vacuum pump starts against normal air pressure and pumps the buffer tank out. When the pressure in the buffer is lower than the accumulator the check valve opens and the system empties the accumulator.

Probably more than you want to do. I wanted a solid system that would last a lifetime. Which in my case is probably twenty years max.

[magentawave]

Any thoughts on the cheap vacuum pumps at Harbor Freight?
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=vacuum+pump

This one is $100 and has a lot of positive reviews:
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-98076.html

[PonoBill]

Oil. fine for doing AC work on cars, or doing vacuum bagging if you don't mind oik everywhere and the pump quitting when the oil runs out. The price is right, but that is basically what im replacing. 

[Bean]

Magenta, I have the "Top of the LIne" HF Pump and as PB said it does spray (and mists) oil all over the place (unless you run it outside, under a exhaust hood or with a baffle/filter).

[PonoBill]

I considered using the pump I have and making a swirl pot to collect the oil and drain it back into the pump. I have a lot of experience with this kind of thing as my race car (Peyote) has a tenuous hold on it's oil at the best of times. But I concluded it made more sense to get something designed properly to begin with. For 99 buck it might be worth the effort. A good new vacuum pump is about $400-500. By the time you finish doing all the stuff I did it's more like $700.

[peterwSUPr]

I have one of those pumps that 55N was first asking about (or very similar).  Worked great the first time.  The second time I used it was bagging a kitesurf board with an EPS core where I did not want to crush it and I had a bleeder valve open to regulate pressure.  Oil was coming out all over the place, but I could not turn it off.It might be becuase of the high air flow through it that it was losing oil so badly.   I still use it, but I now have an airtight system, so I never run the vacuum for very long.  With my 60lb propane tank as a reservoir, I can sometimes run it for 10 minutes to get the tank to the desired pressure, and then when its time to bag the project, I just open the tank, and don't even have to run the pump.  It's much easier to hear leaks with no pump going also.

Peter

[PonoBill]

Better to have a pump you can trust. Good tools--that's what separates us from Chimpanzees.

[55NSup]

Check. Chimps suck as board builders . And they are cannibals.