Joe Woodworker Vacuum Veneer Press

[Richard Dragin]

I left the panel in the press all night and the visible glue cured. The mesh popped off easily but had some glue stuck in it that I had to work out. The panel came clean with a card scraper after about ten minutes. I think a little less glue on the next one might help but the zebra is just porous and the scraping just means less sanding if any.


A question for the guys with pumps. Does the pump turn on for every cycle of the vac switch to maintain pressure? I get a 3 second whoosh every five or ten minutes (the interval seemed longer the longer the panel was in the bag). If that pump kept coming on it would bother me and I can't imagine dealing with a continuous run system.

What's the advantage of a pump system other than not needing a compressor?

[Frank Drew]

Richard,

In my experience with a vacuum pump without reservoir tanks, the pump will cycle occasionally to maintain a vacuum, the frequency will depending on the integrity of the bag and lines (any leaks?) and whether or not you've incorporated a valve in the line from the vacuum system, since most vacuum pumps aren't designed to maintain a vacuum all by themselves (even assuming no vacuum loss elsewhere).

I had a fairly low tech system: A very good, but used, pump, everything else home made or salvaged. For a typical flat pressing, where I might leave the panel in the bag for maybe an hour and a half, I might have to bump the vacuum up a few times for a minute or so each time once the original vacuum has been established; not at all annoying, in other words.