Upgrading My Vacuum System

[irishamericanlad]

No video.. Time got away.. But a quick pic of the set up ...



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[cavx]

irishamericanlad, that is one tall chamber, and well used I see I am intrigued with how you load this.

Today I was attempting to make a part that really needs a two part mold. But before I can make the said mold, I need to make the master part. So I degassed but the vacuum basically sucked all the resin out of the part and I had no way of refilling, so your (if I am understanding you right) system might be the answer.

I have not tried this yet, but what I am thinking is that when I do make the 2 part mold, that I can shove a loaded syringe in a fill/air port and as the air is sucked out, it should pull the syringe plunger down to keep the mold full. Well that is what I hoping to achieve anyway

 

[irishamericanlad]

Well I use a straw and a cup lol

It's pretty simple design that uses the vacuum to draw in the resin into an already vacuumed atmosphere... When the resin is done being drawn up. Us a small clamp to clamp the straw... Then let it run another few minutes and then shut it down...
No special gadgets needed




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[SciFiPropFreak]

hey irishamericanlad I really like the simplicity of your method!
I've been thinking about how it would be possible to degas and pour resin/silicone simultaneously in a vacuum chamber (my thoughts so far were more like "put a reservoir with a funnel on top of the mold INSIDE the chamber...but it always seemed that the chamber would have to be very high...)
Keeping the reservoir outside the chamber surely helps keeping the chamber smaller, or use it for the mold an not the material+mold.

There are just a few questions about this method:
- Do you let the resin cure while keeping the vacuum?...or asking in a different way: how do you keep the resin-inlet in your chamber clean? Let the resin cure and then re-drill it??:eek
- does the resin/silicone still blow up inside the chamber? Or is all the air already gone when the stuff comes out of the straw in the chamber?
- are your "straws" actual straws, or more like some tubing? Is it reusable?

 

[cavx]

hey @Irishamericanlad I really like the simplicity of your method!
I've been thinking about how it would be possible to degas and pour resin/silicone simultaneously in a vacuum chamber (my thoughts so far were more like "put a reservoir with a funnel on top of the mold INSIDE the chamber...but it always seemed that the chamber would have to be very high...)
Keeping the reservoir outside the chamber surely helps keeping the chamber smaller, or use it for the mold an not the material+mold.

There are just a few questions about this method:
- Do you let the resin cure while keeping the vacuum?...or asking in a different way: how do you keep the resin-inlet in your chamber clean? Let the resin cure and then re-drill it??:eek
- does the resin/silicone still blow up inside the chamber? Or is all the air already gone when the stuff comes out of the straw in the chamber?
- are your "straws" actual straws, or more like some tubing? Is it reusable?

An interesting set up for sure. How does this actually obtain a full vacuum? Or can it? The idea here is that the resin is a thick medium and the vacuum sucks it into the chamber, but how air tight can that be?

 

[irishamericanlad]

Scifi I use a long setting resin so I usually let it run for a few minutes then shut it off.. If your drawing a vacuum when the resin kicks then that's how the resin will be.. Foaming and not in place. For me, I know when i did good when the resin at the top of mold looks like a glassy lake... It will rise up some; but my molds all have tall reservoirs.. But smaller molds shouldn't need a lot of draw. And i use actual straws cut to fit. Not reusable but cheap for a billion straws...
Cavx when all the resin is drawn up I use a strong clamp to pinch the straw then after I'm happy with the time of draw i shut down the vacuum and pull the straws then use pipe cleaners and q tips to clean out the inlet valve.. Sometimes I shot myself on the foot and let the resin kick before i clean it and then yup, drill time lol...
What I am not showing you is for the larger molds like my very detailed sword handles , i use the vacuum to draw out the bubbles in degassing then in drop it in a huge industrial pressure pot and let that sucker shrink any other bubbles ... But for me, I can't afford to have a lot of bubbles .. That makes for bad impressing a and weak sword handles... So I always step up my process ...


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[cavx]

Large diameter pipe has been ordered This pipe has an OD of 800mm, and an ID of 706mm and a wall thickness of 47mm. I am making this 150mm tall so it will be about 58.5 litres or just over 2x the current chamber volume, but flat and wide so I can lay my molds inside and degas in the molds. I will have to make retainer walls for them out of silicone.
I have also been playing with an expoy resin which, when poured thicker than 10mm, is hard like Perspex. It is also water clear and has a very long potlife (18 minutes). Given the price of this stuff Vs 25mm Perspex, I might actually be pouring my own lids and bases for this project to keep the costs down. Just not sure it the best course of action is a native pour or laminating the resin to 10mm perspex.

I have decided to add 3 ball valves to this chamber so that in the future I can add a 2nd (1HP, 2 stage, 9CFM) pump.

I've now sold my original 1/4 HP, single stage, 3CFM pump but do want to purchase one of this small stainless vacuum chamber kits for the 1/4" fitting on the side. .

 

[cavx]

And I picked this up today for $97.00