OK, I have been charged with the task of setting up a vacuum system but have no experience with them. The main purpose of the vacuum system will be degas rubber molds, vacuum bag composites/veneer, and to finally have enough vacuum to chase the vacuum leaks on my mercedes. The car laughed at the little mity-vac.
Lucky for me I have a Welch Duo seal vacuum pump, I just changed the oil in it also. Runs great and quit. I also have vacuum fittings and gauges and hard plastic vacuum line. I probably have the pipe dope for vacuum systems somewhere. All of this stuff is industrial excretion, gotta love how companies spend money then throw perfectly good stuff away.
What I need is to get a inlet filter and determine the best way to run vacuum line to an upstairs bedroom. I have read that leaks are a big no-no and I'm pretty neurotic about proper setup and leakfree operation. Don't think I need an exhaust filter but I really don't know much about them other than they keep oil out of the air. Don't know if it is a good idea to setup a vacuum reservoir either.
Any tips or suggestions? I really don't have much experience so I could use any help. Thanks folks!
Must have stumped y'all. Think tomorrow I'll start working on the setup and we'll see what happens.
Vent it outside and be done with it, by and large. Filters will not catch the fumes. Charcoal can, but saturates quickly.
Flexible vacuum lines of the suitable size are the easiest way to run them up to a bedroom (weird location btw), and to move it around with.
Vacuum sealant and such is nifty, but only if you really need that tight a vacuum seal.
Here's my 2 cents adjusted for inflation.
A good inlet filter will save your pump. A vacuum reservoir is probably overkill for what you are doing. I've known guys that used old refrigerator compressors for vacuum bagging. Leaks will only affect the amount of vacuum that you can generate or depending on the application cause the pump to run longer than normal. More important is to prevent clogging of the line. I would make a canister in the vac line to provide a break where stuff like excess resin can fall out of the line (similar to the reservoir but with a different purpose).
Cool I think I'm going to lay some fiberglass up this weekend, just need to figure out a project. All I need is some bagging material and tacky tape, I think I have all the other stuff. I'm helping my old man set this thing up, he wants to use it do degas silicone jewelery molds.
Thanks Foxtrapper, never though of just blowing the exhaust outside.
I'm definitely going to use an inlet filter to keep crap out of the pump motor, these things ain't cheap. I'll use a little reservoir thing near the bag, never thought of that. I'll keep you folks posted as to what happens.
Fiberglast.com is a good source for bagging materials, tapes, resins, cloth etc., etc.
Thanks Triumph that site is in my bookmarks and apparently cookies as they are advertisers on everything I look at.
My old man actually does composite strength testing and knows a whole lot more about this stuff than I do. Don't know if he ever got into layup though, I think he just did testing.
Thanks again I'll see what happens.
