Homemade vacuum chuck

[Paul Zerjay]

Christopher and Pete asked to see some pics of the chuck I made so here goes.
1st is the adaptor made from walnut with several coats of sanding sealed to help seal the pores. I cut an o-ring in that snugs up against the handwheel. A small tenon is cut to snugly fit in the spindle hole and a 1/4" hole is drilled through. On the back side is a sealed bearing I bought from Lowes. It is just Ca glued into a hole I cut end grain with a spindle gouge. Then the is a nipple Ca glued in the hole in the bearing to attatch the hose. I had to cut the threads off the nipple using small jaws in my chuck and a spindle gouge. It is brass so it wasn't too hard to do. That left me with a smooth brass "ferrel" that I could CA glue into the hole in the bearing
2nd pic is the front side
3rd pic is a bad pic of the back
4th pic is a 6" pvc pipe used for the chuck. It is mounted to a faceplate made from some stuff the restaraunt industry uses for hot plates in kitchens. Good stuff, but the average joe could go with plywood or mdf I would think. The spindle portion is 3/4" plastic bought from woodcraft. It is threaded to fit my spindle.
5th pic is the same chuck different angle

[Paul Zerjay]

6th pic is the beal tap and another chuck. You can see the threads here. They work really well.
Pic 7 is my vacuum gauge showing 24hg Not Bad for a homade system.
8th pic is the foamies from wally world. I use these to wrap the face of the pvc pipes.
9th pic is where I stand for most of the day.

[Pete Jordan]

Thank you so much Paul! I didn't mean to put you to work on Easter but I sure appreciate it. I have the Beal tap but haven't used it yet. It looks like it works like charm.

Thanks again!