Question for Steve Schlumpf

[George Clark]

Steve,

Congratulations on your AB. I've had one for a while and I'm sure you'll love yours. This was one case where I bought my last lathe first.

I've been studying your very well done tutorial on vacuum chucking systems. Thank you for your time and effort in making it available. One thing I don't understand is why you filter the exhaust air prior to the silencer. I understand the necessity to filter the air prior to entering the pump but what is the reason for filtering it as it leaves the pump? Would you enlighten me, please.

Thanks in advance for your response.

George

[Steve Schlumpf]

George - my shop is located in the basement and when I picked up the Gast vacuum pump I was told that it would give off graphite powder in the exhaust. So, not wanting to add to the stuff already in the air while turning, I decided to add the exhaust filter. After using the pump for quite a few turnings, I can see that the filter is still fairly clean - as opposed to the input filter which has been doing it's job as intended. Just one of those things that if I were designing it again - I know now that I would not need.

[Gary Max]

Plus the filter helps muffle noise. I have one on the back of my system also.