Oil from vacuum pump question

[Paul Williams]

I built a vacuum chuck. It works great. BUT, I used the Harbor Freight single stage pump. I placed a small air filter from a lawn tractor over the oil outlet. It catches some of the oil fog that these pumps are known for, but there is quite a bit that goes right through the filter paper. Has anyone come up with a good way to contain the oil these pumps throw out? Help please.

[JohnC Lucas]

I built my first Vacuum pump from a car compressor. It spewed lots of oil so I made a sort of muffler to go on the exhaust and filled it with course Steel wool. The whole thing was horizontal and I put a catch cup underneath to catch the drips when it really built up.

[Robert Edington]

I have a different brand, but it produces the same fog. I took off the plastic "muffler" and turned a piece of 3/4" Sch40 PVC pipe which fits very tight in the threaded hole where the muffler used to attach. I then could add PVC piping to the fitting I turned. I made mine go straight up the wall for about six feet. That way the oil will drain back into the pump as it condenses. I then piped the PVC outside the shop.
Just my solution.
RP

[Paul Williams]

Thanks for the replies When it warms up here in Minnesota I plan to move the pump outside. Don't think that will work in the cold. I like both ideas and may combine them. Take a pipe several feet above the compressor and end it in a steel wool or perhaps copper filter.

[Rich Aldrich]

Just pipe the discharge of the pump outside. That is what I am going to do this summer.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

Oil discharge is a problem with all of these types of oil based pumps--from the cheapos from HF to expensive units used in industrial applications. Your best bet is to exhaust it outside.

[Alex Zeller]

Most of the vacuum pumps at my work aren't the oil type but the few we have use oil mist filters or eliminators. Because our pumps run 24/7 we use large ones but for occasional use I would get a cheap one off ebay that comes apart so you can either clean or replace just the filter.

[roger wiegand]

You want to look for an "oil mist filter". Paper filters will clog up almost immediately. The ones we used in the lab were very effective, but cost about $500; there's no good reason they should be that expensive-- you probably don't need 99.999% efficiency. A quick search showed a variety of more reasonable options.

[Paul Williams]

Thanks for the suggestions. I was out of town for awhile. Now that I am back I will look for oil mist filters. The chuck seems to hold really well. Looking forward to using it.

[Dave Mueller]

You might try this. It worked great for me on my Harbor Freight vacuum pump. Just don't shortcut the furnace filter - get the best you can buy.
http://www.aggieturner.com/exhaust%20filter%20for%20harbor%20freight%20oil%20 vacuum%20pump.pdf

[Ralph Lindberg]

Paul do a search on "oil mist filter harbor freight" and there are instructions from "aggieturner" on building a filter for the pump

[Mike Cathey]

When I started vacuum bagging carbon fiber model racing boats I just sort of gave up on recipricationg pumps and got a cheapo oil less rotary for big pieces and a single diaphragm pump for small parts (also oil less).