Got my vac chuck assembled

[John Fricke]

After too many trips chasing parts........the one drawback of living in the boonies......I have my vac system operational. The 5 minute epoxy seemed to be drying a little slow on my gasket so I didn't try it out yet. Pulled 29.8 hg with a flat board up against the spindle with no gasket.

Pic 1 is my first vacchuck 3"
pic 2 is my robinaire pump plumbed up
pic 3 is my boughten rotary adaptor with homemade insert
pic 4 is my digital vac gauge.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Did you leave your camera in the other room? ;) Would be very interested to see how you built your system!

[John Fricke]

Steve I accidently hit the submit button before attaching pics.......my bad......all fixed now.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Looks like quite the little system! Be sure to pay attention to your vac settings when you go to use it as 29.8 hg could be a bit much on a turning - depending on the size of the chuck you are using.

Looks pretty good! You will love using it!

[John Fricke]

Be sure to pay attention to your vac settings when you go to use it as 29.8 hg could be a bit much on a turning - depending on the size of the chuck you are using.

Looks pretty good! You will love using it!

That is 1 reason for the second valve to regulate pressure. The other reason is so I can use system for vacuum bagging w/o having to rearrange the hose hookups. I need to come up with a container that I can use that will handle vacuum. I want to try some different things to stabilize punky wood. I have come across some really kewl spalted stuff but it is often too punky to turn......just had a thought.......need to come up with an old pressure cooker.......I'm off to Craigs list.........

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking setup John. Boy 29.8 hg don't suck the bottom of the bowl out.

[Kieran Kammerer]

John,
Any details on how you made the fitting for the rotary adapter in the third picture. I have a Oneway rotary adapter I used on my old Delta. Should be getting my MM later this week.
Thanks, Kieran

[John Fricke]

John,
Any details on how you made the fitting for the rotary adapter in the third picture. I have a Oneway rotary adapter I used on my old Delta. Should be getting my MM later this week.
Thanks, Kieran

Well it was my first attempt at turning aluminum. Didn't turn out real pretty but it seals good so I guess that is the important part.
*I started out with a piece of aluminum rod 7/8" x 2 1/2"
*I measured the hole through the spindle at 5/8" so I turned that end down to about 9/16"
*Made a couple of grooves for o-rings that fit snugly in the spindle hole.
*Drilled and tapped the large end to accomodate my rotary adaptor which has 3/8" fine thread
*Drilled 1/8" hole through the insert end.
I'm pretty sure the spindle hole is metric, but I don't have a metric calipers. I'm sorry but I don't have the O-ring size that I used. Since the nearest Auto Parts store is 18 miles, I got an assortment to see which worked best.

[Kieran Kammerer]

Thanks John. Seems relatively striaght forward. I will plan on trying the same technique once things are up on running. Kieran

[John Fricke]

I'm still struggling to find a suitable gasket set-up. I thought I had found the ideal material. Flat orings made from edpm rubber. The problem is I can't get them to stick to the pvc adaptor I made. I've tried Epoxy and rubber cement so far.

My next attempt will be to do away with pvc and stick to wood. That way I can machine a groove for the gasket to seat in. I'm open to good suggestions also. :)