Stabilizing tank

[Jim Burr]

This took a lot less time than thought.
Tank is from Curtis Seebeck at Turntex. It's 11x7 and amazing to use!! The suction part is a refrigerator compressor with a tube hooked to the suctions ide. It pulls 28mmhg without a sweat. Tank was made for me so I'm not including the price for that. Compressor $40, tubing $4, brass connector Free because it was the last one at Lowes and the clerk got tired of looking for a price! If I had 29 seconds worth of ingenuity like some of you guys, the Mason jar idea would work fine for smaller pieces.
After stabilizing, the blanks need to be baked off to cure, so my wife found a toaster oven at Goodwill for $4...it works great although I hope to toast a bagel while my blanks are cooking. Curtis is gone until the end of the week so my juice will be here next week. There is a large box of stuff in the shop that needs stabilizing so more pics when that happens. Happy to answer anything I have knowledge of, and that would be somewhere around nuthin'! Thanks for looking!

[Jerry Marcantel]

Hey Jim, looks like you're set now, except for the main ingredient.... Is the compressor/vac still in oil, or is it now dry? ........... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Jim Burr]

Hey Jerry. Still has oil...the guy I bought it from showed me how to add it. It runs so quite I have to put my hand on it to make sure it's running.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jim looks great. Thanks for sharing.

[Tim Leiter]

Your setup looks very good. I have been wanting to try stabilizing some of the box elder that I have. Pretty red streaks but very punky.
How thick does the plexi-glass need to be for one of those tanks? I'm wondering if I could make my own.

[Doug Herzberg]

I'm most eager to learn more about this, Jim. Please keep us posted.

[John M. Smith]

Would this work with a Venturi valve? I just acquired a couple. How long does it need to be under a vacuum?

[Jim Burr]

I have no idea John. Curtis is the expert. The 3 batches I've done so far have been under vaccum for about 30 minutes. Of more importance though is the amount of vaccum...28mmhg is key to maximum penetration. My pump gets there in about 3 minutes and no issues holding vaccum.

[James Combs]

Would this work with a Venturi valve? I just acquired a couple. How long does it need to be under a vacuum?


I have no idea John. Curtis is the expert. The 3 batches I've done so far have been under vaccum for about 30 minutes. Of more importance though is the amount of vaccum...28mmhg is key to maximum penetration. My pump gets there in about 3 minutes and no issues holding vaccum.

Jim, I can answer John's question. I believe I read some place that stated that the vacuum should be held until "most" of the bubbles have stopped. Generally I hold mine until only a few bubbles are appearing around the edges of the part. In most cases it never has taken more then 30 minutes and as little as 5. However, I think if you got to Curtis' site and read his info I think he talks about an hour or two. Check out his tutorials and instructions (http://www.turntex.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=61). He has demo videos there as well.

[Bob Hamilton]

I'm confused. What is mmhg? Is that millimeters of mercury? 28 millimeters is just over an inch so that would be hardly any vacuum at all???

Bob

[phil harold]

I'm confused. What is mmhg? Is that millimeters of mercury? 28 millimeters is just over an inch so that would be hardly any vacuum at all???

Bob me 2
I always thought that it was inches measure in mercury
a perfect vacuum, if it could be attained, 29.92 in.-Hg

[Jim Burr]

28 millimeters of mercury. We measure vaccum all the time on ventilated patients...they frequently achieve number's in the 40-60 range. It doesn't take a whole lot to pull the fluid into the blanks. Phil...you have inches in your measurement...millimeter is a heck of a lot smaller unit of measure.

[James Combs]

I have no idea John. Curtis is the expert. The 3 batches I've done so far have been under vaccum for about 30 minutes. Of more importance though is the amount of vaccum...28mmhg is key to maximum penetration. My pump gets there in about 3 minutes and no issues holding vaccum.


I'm confused. What is mmhg? Is that millimeters of mercury? 28 millimeters is just over an inch so that would be hardly any vacuum at all???

Bob


me 2
I always thought that it was inches measure in mercury
a perfect vacuum, if it could be attained, 29.92 in.-Hg


28 millimeters of mercury. We measure vaccum all the time on ventilated patients...they frequently achieve number's in the 40-60 range. It doesn't take a whole lot to pull the fluid into the blanks. Phil...you have inches in your measurement...millimeter is a heck of a lot smaller unit of measure.

Jim the 40-60(mm) range may be ok for a ventilator but if you check the gauge on your chamber I can almost guarantee you that it is calibrated in "inches" of mercury. The minimum of 28 you are referring to is "inches" not mm. 28mmhg is practically no vacuum at all. That low of vacuum should probably measured in inches of water instead of mercury.

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

Actually, his reading of his gauge my be correct. Some gauges read in Torr (not very common) which is the same as mmHg. A vacuum of 28 Torrs (or mmHg) is equivalent to 28,000 microns which is approximately a 96.4% vacuum (at sea level) or 28.84" Hg.

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

Jim,

If you are using the gauge that I installed on your chamber, then everyone is correct and you are getting "Hg as that is what my gauges are calibrated in.

[Hugh Watling]

A perfect vacuum (1 atm) is equal to 760 mm of mercury or 29.9 inches of mercury

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

A perfect vacuum (1 atm) is equal to 760 mm of mercury or 29.9 inches of mercury

I am sure you meant this but for clarification for others...A perfect vacuum AT SEA LEVEL on a standard atmospheric day (59° f) is 760 mm gauge or 0mm absolute which equates to 29.92" Hg gauge or 0" Hg absolute. Since the amount of atmosphere is less at higher elevations, a perfect vacuum at 5,000' above sea level, for example, is approximately 639mm gauge or 25.16" Hg gauge on a standard day.

[Tim Leiter]

I just picked up some Polycryl, I got a good deal on it when I made another purchase. (I got free shipping and percentage off.) Has anyone tried polycryl for stabilizing. I read up on it and was wondering if anyone on here has experience with it for vacuum stabilizing?

[Keith Westfall]

A little different question. Will these compressors pull enough for a vacuum chuck on a lathe?

[Jim Burr]

A little different question. Will these compressors pull enough for a vacuum chuck on a lathe?

I was wondering the same thing Keith. Mine, I'm sure is a low CFM compressor but I'm not sure how much that matters. I seem to remember most people hanging around a vaccum of 15-28 but again, not sure of the unit of measure. I'd really like to find out!