I build this vacuum pump out of an old fridge compressor.
I want to use it to stabilize wood with oil or resin.
https://youtu.be/p-lBdX_UsMY
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I build this vacuum pump out of an old fridge compressor.
I want to use it to stabilize wood with oil or resin.
https://youtu.be/p-lBdX_UsMY
Count me interested. Will multiple compressors pull down larger chamber through a manifold?. I have a huge bell jar approximately 24" x 30"... would double as power for a vacuum chuck.
Some years ago I used a Fridge compressor as a vacumn pump. I used it to suck air out of epoxy and polyester resin as well shock absorber oil.
Then I picked up a real vacumn pump for almost free at a flea market so the Fridge based one just sits on a shelf now but it worked fine when I used it.
Some people do the opposite and use them as compressors.
I got a big kick out of the spot-painter and his very mechanical adaptation, especially the former tire as air reservoir.Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyfoale
Yessir; vacuum that is my intention. I'm thinking a manifold with ball/ spring check valves would allow multiple pumps to pull down large bell jar without pulling on other pumps. Project is impregnating hardwood spacers and pistol grips.
I think it's possible to use more pumps for a better vacuum, when you have a large chamber.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toolmaker51
More pumps in parallel will not create a better vacumn but they will create the same vacumn quicker and so will have an advantage when sucking down a large container.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam's Workshop Diary
If you have good good compressed air supply you can buy or make a venturi vacumn pump which can provide a surprisingly good suck.
I do not know the max vacuum but I have used automotive a.c. pumps to create vacuum. Lots of them in junk yards.
Eric
Another option from cars is the vacumn pump used for power brakes on Diesel engined vehicles. These are actually designed as a vacumn pump to replace the intake vacumn that you get with petrol engines. Of course neither of these options have the advantage of the fridge compressor that it is all built in as a single unit, no need for an external motor.Quote:
Originally Posted by suther51
Hmmm, running a vacuum port [eductor] hadn't occurred to me. The multiple pumps address volume in what seem economical fashion....Thinking now to pull it down with venturi [a little harder to control], and maintain it with a pump.Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyfoale
Until I finish the lid [bell jar] and jar hoisting sling, the seal is a question mark. Initial plan positioned it open end up, too high to reach down into, and quite heavy. bought lab grade bell at auction long ago, about 14mm wall. Definitely not the thin terrarium or display variety. Now, closed end up, vessels seat on an easy flat surface.
Per the usual, design process [skilled cobble-up] just as fun a real build. BTW, lab bells this size are ~$750, displays ~$50...crackerbox thin. So, extra care is rewarding. The sling is [might be] a stretched bicycle inner tube, three long webbing legs, terminated with a ring.
Sam's Workshop Diary,
Nice idea and re-use of an old compressor!
Several years ago I used an old vacuum pump and home built vacuum chuck for machining acrylic sheet parts on a small CNC mill. Worked great for me.
Fantastic! I couldn't tell looking at the video but what is the max vacume psi on your machine? Thank You
With no refrigerant in the system, is it necessary to oil the compressor?
If so, how?
Thanks.
kh
when I was a kid ( 55+years ago)dad had a old compressor that he used for the ac suck downs and for aring up our tires too, remember if it sucks, it also blows!!!!I think it's still at dads.it has fallowed up around the us and world too as I remember having it in japan too. I think it was about a 3rd smaller than what the op has. super quiet and always works.
they should pull 29 inches. as for oil just dont dump out whats in it already.the oil circulates through the system with the freeon.. thus you probably dont want to use this compressipor for air brush....
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In my younger days I used to manufacture and instal hot water solar heating systems. Filling the system with a water based heat transfer fluid used to take forever and you could never be sure you had got rid of all the air out of the system. You had to check several bleed points, always in awkward places. I eventually thought of filling using a vacuum pump. New pumps were very expensive so I had to work out how to make one. I used a pump off an old refrigerator, probably 20 years old. A very small British refrigerator about a quarter the size of an American fridge. I would void the system at its highest point, then introduce the heat transfer fluid through a separate filler point. Part of the vacuum system was an overflow, glass container. As soon as this started flowing I knew the system was full with no airlocks. The benefits to me were a saving of about 2 hours manual pumping and bleeding the system. No chance of airlocks, no spillage of expensive fluid. I used that same pump for another twenty years. Central heating intallers could well make use of this system of filling a heating system.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam's Workshop Diary
Thanks for tickling my memory.
Here is my venturi thingy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toolmaker51
Attachment 27678 Click thumbnail for full size images.
Here is the power brake vacumn pump to compensate for the lack of manifold vacumn in diesel engines. This was driven off the end of the camshaft, so around 3000 rpm should work really well. They have a good flow rate and suction but I have no real data.
Attachment 27683 Attachment 27684
TM51, I am assuming you will be using the Humongous bell jar inverted?Quote:
Originally Posted by Toolmaker51
Years ago in my life in cryogenic refrigeration systems I built a Show unit with difficult design parameters that required a 10" bell jar (Quartz/Borosilicate) to handle the vacuum and discharge pressures/temps we were working with. I used a 1/3hp refrigeration compressor for the cryogenic portion and my plate for keeping the weight down was made from 1/2" 7075-T6 plate I had anodized and then turned the seal portion to a surface finish of about 16 and the lip helped keep the jar on when atmosphere was present. I had to have the bell jar shortened and reground and bought a vacuum seal for it also. We used pure silicone vacuum grease around the shop for sealing and it worked fine. The unit could pull about .1 millitorr (3.9e-6 in.mg) and cycle back to atmosphere in about 4 minutes on that bell jar...cryogenically.
A system of your Whataburger size will take awhile to pump down even with a big compressor...1/2-1hp-something with a larger than 1/4" inlet. Our big units used 10hp 6 cyl. Carlyle's (06d) and our smallest used a 1/3hp Tecumseh's. Personally I wouldn't even consider a venturi system...your compressor may have a conniption fit and suffer a seizure...let alone the mind numbing noise generated.
Be sure your bell is in good condition and I would recommend a needle valve to vent the system...slowly. Dangerous implosion hazards otherwise. I don't know if anybody but old timers know what happens when you shoot a TV picture tube with a 22...similar attributes but 14mm quartz is sharp.
Sams Workshop Diary; Nice clean build, well done! :clapping: Please be careful using off the shelf glass jars, they can become stressed over time and let go unexpectedly.
:hattip:
PJ
The maximum at the small glass that I used was -13,5psi
Yes it's necessary. From time to time you have to let the pump suck in a bit oil.Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl_H
I'll incorporate your critical details, and before firing it up, contact you directly. Adding a needle valve for decompression will be first. I'm also thinking a racing style explosion blanket is worthwhile. Tried finding a big PVC or plastic culvert remnant, no luck so far. A couple inches clearance should do, either would vent implosion upwards.Quote:
Originally Posted by PJs
TM51, to bad you are not around the corner. My boss has a pile of hdpe drops from 4" to 36" or bigger (pipe that is) nearly the size of a small house. I can not imagine what he is saving the drops for but they have come in handy as concrete forms several times. The businesses use for the hdpe is as rock shield for insulated (polyiso foam, foam glass, mineral wool, areogell, ect. ) steam lines, chilled water, some times cryogenics. Got the old electric cookstove from the house for the shop, thinking of trying to make some of the melted n molded plastic projects I have seen here.
Eric
I moved from SoCal, a veritable wonderland of resources to Missouri...I knew it was different but also figured mid-west implied 'central'. Yeah, in geography, lol, not like the yellow pages.
So when hearing or thinking of that line of movie script "Well ain't this place is a geographical oddity . . . Two weeks from everywhere!", I'm consoled Chicago is only eight hours drive. And been three times in past couple months, getting what I can't find local.
The idea of a tranny blanket is good, but think that a heavy carpet remnant would be suitable too. Depending how you build the cradle for it perhaps some SS mesh as a liner? My only concern was for the integrity of your used, massive bell jar. Another thing I thought of was a diffusion pump for the volume you are dealing with. You can find old Veeco Helium leak detectors at auctions, even ebay that have diffusion pumps in them and seen them for a few hundred duckets although Diffusion pump oil is pricey. A source for compressors might be a restaurant refer? The thing is I don't think you need to to achieve the vacuum between galaxies to do what you want depending on your fluid for impregnation.
Be Warm and holler if I can help bounce some ideas around.
PJ
"...vacuum between galaxies..." lol, pretty severe description of nonexistent atmosphere. The jar is still boxed, unused, from a distinguished federal manufacturing plant. No other bidders. The carpet remnant is a better solution than race blanket, especially with a layer of wire mesh.
The mention of Veeco brought back memories building HFET's literally by the score, from wirebonding, belt soldering the lids, vacuum leak and PIND tests.
Us toolmakers get around, but no Beach Boy's song about it :(
