Which vacuum press

[Adam Augustine]

I have been thinking about getting a vacuum press for the veneer work that I do. I don't have huge sums of money to spend, but I don't mind spending money on a quality product. Right now it is a toss up between the Vacupress compact 150 & 300. I would get the bag from Veneer Supply. For the most part I have done work that would fit in a 4'X4' bag. The reason I am thinking about the Compact 300 is just incase I get a project where I would need a larger bag. The Vacupress website says the Compact 150 should only be used for bags under 4'X8'. Could I still use the Compact 150 and it just takes longer to get a vacuum in the larger bag? Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.

Also if there is another brand of Vacuum press out there that you have had good success with, Please let me know the name.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Head over to Joe Woodworker's web site. There is more info there than you can digest in a month. As for pumps, you have three choices, Venturi, piston / diaphram, or vane. Almost any air compressor can be converted into a vacuum pump. My first air compressor / vacuum pump was built using a twin cylinder AC compressor off a car. Because it had "Ford Style" service valves, I could backseat inlet and use it a vacuum pump. HVAC places shed vacuum pumps when they no longer pull in the micron range, as a rebuild kit is about the same as a new pump, plus no down time. Vacuum switches to control your pump are a little hard to find as most are for precision work. For venturi pumps, look at Air-Vac Engineering's web site, as they supply most used in commercial systems.

[Jamie Buxton]

My rig has a vacuum pump from Joe Woodworker. I think it is 3 cfm. I make my own bags from 20 mil sheet. It comes off a roll at my local plastics place - 54” wide, and $6 per yard. I have two: a 4’x9’, and a 2’x10’.

[John TenEyck]

Same as Jamie; I make my own bags from 20 or 30 mil vinyl from my local boat accessories place. It glues great with standard PVC pipe cement. You can fabricate your own penetration or buy them from Joe Woodworker.

I use a Gast vane pump that I got second hand. It pulls about 5 cfm so it can pump down pretty quickly. I don't use any special control system, just an on/off timing switch to keep the vacuum up, set empirically after I close up and pump down the bag. Crude, but it doesn't need to be fancy to work well.

You can spend a lot, buy you don't have to. All in, I spent about $200. I have used this system for at least 20 years now and have made hundreds of pressings on both flat and curved work.

John

[Patrick Varley]

I have the Excel 1 kit from Veneer Supplies, which is a 1.4cfm pump. Probably similar to the VacuPress 150. Honestly, it's worked well for me. The VeneerSupplies site says it shouldn't be used on bags bigger than 4x4. The Excel 3 is the 3.5 cfm pump for bags up to 4x9.

https://www.veneersupplies.com/produ...ss-System.html

If you already have a decent sized compressor, you may look at one of their auto-cycling venturi kits. Could give you more bang for your buck.

I'm happy with the small pump, but if I were going to do it again I'd just start with the 3.5cfm pump to make 4x9 sheets possible.

[Richard Coers]

I'm a huge fan of Vacuum Pressing Systems. Bought it in 1999 and it still runs like new.

[Mick Simon]

I've heard nothing but good about Joe Woodworkers, but I have no first-hand experience with them. I have a Compact 150 with a 4 x 4 bag. If I were buying again, I'd get the 300. The 150 takes a couple of minutes to clear the bag, and while I've never had a problem with shifting, delaminating, etc., faster would be worth it to me.

That said, I'm at 7000' altitude, FWIW.

[Richard Coers]

I've heard nothing but good about Joe Woodworkers, but I have no first-hand experience with them. I have a Compact 150 with a 4 x 4 bag. If I were buying again, I'd get the 300. The 150 takes a couple of minutes to clear the bag, and while I've never had a problem with shifting, delaminating, etc., faster would be worth it to me.

That said, I'm at 7000' altitude, FWIW.

Using a shop vacuum to clear the bag would be one solution for you.

[John Kananis]

I have a Compact 300 (the green model) and it works great. I would probably go with the step up of buying again (the blue 6 cfm model) but really the 300 does the job.

[Jim Becker]

Using a shop vacuum to clear the bag would be one solution for you.

Darren Oates, a guy I enjoy watching on the 'Tube did his vacuum table exactly that way. He uses a vacuum cleaner motor to get a lot of the excess air out of the bag initially while using a more appropriate pump for the "hard work". It does require a second port in the bag appropriate for the vacuum cleaner motor's larger hose requirements, but if laminations and other things are "tall", there's a "yuge" amount of air that has to be evacuated before the actual clamping and forming can occur. Two stage is really good for that kind of work.

[Mick Simon]

Using a shop vacuum to clear the bag would be one solution for you.

Agreed. Another solution i've seen is to put a secondary vacuum holding tank in line with appropriate valves to quickly clear the bag before switching to the pump.