Vacuum chuck question

[Bill Sherman]

Does the "Hold Fast" brand vacuum chuck that Woodcraft sells work well? Would a cheap Chinese pancake air compressor work to power the chuck?

Bill

[Jeff Nicol]

Bill, It works on the process of the compressed air blowing past an orifice that ceates a suction on that orifice. This is the port that creates the vacuum for the chuck to hold the turning. All of it is done internally in the little black box. Harbor frieght sells one also and works on the same process, I have not tried one but I have seen others post who have. I think the compressor would work if it meets the CFM rating required for the Venturi to create the vacuum. So check the CFM output at the required PSI of your air compressor. It will still create a vacuum but maybe not enough to hold larger items, if it draws 16Hg of vacuum it should hold lots of things. I use an old compressor out of a de-humidifier as a vacuum pump and I can draw 25Hg of vacuum and is 100% quieter than the venturi type vacuum systems.

Hope this helps,

Jeff

[David Christopher]

Bill, your pancake compressor will work fine....according to the video it will start every 3 to 4 minuits .....I have a bigger compressor and I have left it on for an hour and the compressor never came on

this unit is not loud....it sounds like a small air leak

[Bill Mitchel]

Hey Bill
I have the Holdfast and it works pretty well. Mine pulls around 20, sometimes a little less but alot of times its over around 22. I seal the wood before mounting because it will leak if it is a porus wood.
The guys with the gast pumps and the homemade units do pull more vacuum although for what I do this works pretty good and I have been happy with mine. I can't remember exactly how long it took to put together but it was less than an hour and then I was turning. I paid around 180 landed and it is the one with the regulator (I think they use a R in the model #).
One of the videos I have seen shows them usiong a pancake compressor, its just a little loud and kicks on quite a bit, although you could put the comp in another room. The unit itself is a little noisy because of the venturi.
Hope this helps
Bill

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with David and Bill. When I bought mine I watched Dave Hout do a demo with a maple bowl. I could not pull the bowl off and he was using a dewalt pancake compressor. I have a bigger sears 150 psi 30 gal unit and I have started it on a bowl and the compressor never came on. That was about a 1/2 hr and I pull with maple or cherry around 22 hg to 23 hg. More porous wood I seal the back side with 2" masking tape to seal it.