I am making some great connections out here in the country. My neighbor took me to a farm that is being razed for development. He and some other folks got first pick of the stuff there, but I can get if I want it, a large milking vacuum pump. This was a dairy farm.

It was dark when I saw it, but it looked to have a big honkin motor-like a 3 to 5 hp, and a ballast talk like an air compressor. The pump was obviously not an air compressor pump- it had large lines- like 1 1/2" coming from it. I also picked up this really spacy looking glass receiver bulb- about 14" diameter with glass tubes entering top and bottom. Looks like an extra-terrestrial plumbing fixture...or the place where you put the dilithium crystals in a warp drive...(I know, I know, you need to see a picture...I'll see what I can do)

I don't know what sort of vacuum a system like this would pull, but do you think it would be enough for a veneer press? It may be that the poor cow udders can't take very many inches of mercury of a vacuum, but you need a lot of volume. Don't know. Always wanted to make a vacuum press, and this may be the just pump for it. I don't know how hard of a vacuum is required for veneering. Also, where do you get the bag that you put your work in?