venturi vacuum press?

[J.R. Rutter]

Assuming that compressor is in no way a limiting factor, are the compressed air driven venturi vacuum systems worth considering over a standalone vac pump? I am thinking of trying to sell more veneer work and need to get a bag setup going, but don't necessarily want to spend a lot of $$ to test the waters.

[Jim McFarland]

joewoodworker.com has some plans for a Venturi press:
http://joewoodworker.com/veneering/welcome.htm
...but for some reason I can't download anything from there right this minute -- hopefully a temporary (e.g., server maintenance) problem.

Sorry, no experience with it.

I built one of Joe's vacuum pump systems per his instructions and very happy with it so I can vouch for his credibility.

[Bill Davis]

I built the venturi vacuum press and it worked like a champ. Go here (http://joewoodworker.com/veneering/visitorspress.htm) to see the one I built and many others as well. Scroll down to Bill Davis. I heartily recommend Joe Woodworker. He has everything on his web site you need to know and much more. Read his stuff and be an expert. You can buy the hardware to construct it from him or your local box store (for most of it). He has lots of info on venturi vs vacuum pump and tips on pumps to lots of good stuff there.

[Joe Chritz]

When I get my vac press (soon I hope) it will be a venturi press from Joe Woodworker. The theory is sound and it should work great. It won't be portable since you always need the compressor to run it.

In my research I have never heard anything bad about them.

Joe

[Larry Fox]

I built the venturi press from Joe Woodworker and it works great. I use it with a 4' x 6' bag and have no issues.

[Peter Quinn]

I built a Joe Woodworker venturi vacuum press using the 5.5 cfm venturi, I used a 5 gallon air storage tank for the reservoir, and built it into a simple plywood box to protect the innards and survive a bit more industrial shop environment unscathed. It pulls down a 4X8 bag no problem and with good speed. You can make a venturi press up to 9 cfm's from Joe Wood worker if you need a bit more cfm's, maybe to pull multiple bags at once or in stages?

From a performance stand point I don't see any difference between a pump driven unit and a compressor driven unit as long as the cfm's match your needs. Assuming you already have the compressor capacity, the venturi is cheaper to put together. The Joe Wood worker kit has the switches and valves that shut the demand for air when vacuum is achieved and turn it on as necessary so the compressor doesn't run continuous. Its really pretty well done and simple to

I'm seeing venturi systems up to 20 cfm's, which is a monster amount of vacuum speed, if yor compressor can supply the air.

[Thomas S Stockton]

Doesn't make a difference, the most important thing is cfm. If your doing flat panels you can get by with less than if your bending because there tends to be way more air in the bag with bending.
I would look on craigslist and see what kind of pump shows up, I see ones that would work on a kinda regular basis for under $100. If you want to search a wider area try www.searchtempest.com does a nice job of searching various craigslist sites.
Tom

[J.R. Rutter]

Thanks guys! I will check out the DIY options on JWW.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I've been using a JWW venturi pump for almost 10 years. I use an inefficient $10 Harbor Freight Venturi, and sourced the other components from Ebay. Have about $60 in it, and it works great.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Thanks guys! I will check out the DIY options on JWW.For your venturi, check out airvacpumps.com. They are the source for many of the ready made systems venturis. I use an AVR093H on my stuff. Last one I bought as around $20, but it has been a couple of years now.

[Dave Lehnert]

Ball park, How much does one need to spend to get a JWW system up and running?

[Joe Gorleski]

Hey Dave,

Check out this link...
http://www.joewoodworker.com/docs/vacuumpresschart.pdf

The second page shows the approximate costs to build any of the systems.

Cheers,
Joe