Vacuum chuck for wooden eggs?

[tomturns49]

Has anybody made a vacuum chuck for holding wooden eggs? I have a vacuum system and have successfully made chucks for bowls and flatwork that use a neoprene or foam seal. I tried to re-work the PVC & clamp chuck featured on the home page because I'm not crazy about having those clamp screw-heads spinning around near me. Getting a good vacuum seal without the neoprene is unpredictable and I can't figure out how to get a seal on the inside of a chuck.

 

[Binkley]

I have made several of them, and I think they're fantastic. I believe that the only place you need the neoprene is at the mouth of the chuck, to keep air from escaping past the egg. I cut a rounded bottom in something like the shape of the egg, then cut a little rebate at the mouth of the chuck that receives the gasket material. I make the gasket a little smaller in diameter than the hole so that you need to push a little to get the egg to touch the inside of the chuck. I have no scientific method for sizing my eggs, I've made about 20, and they're probably all different diameters and shapes. I have 4 chucks that have worked great for doing the finish sanding on all of the eggs.

 

[Woodlvr]

Eric,
I live up in Midvale and I am interested in your setup, do you have any pictures?[]

 

[Rifleman1776]

Don't do it! [:0]
You'll suck the yolks out.
Sorry. Sometimes I can't resist a straight line. []

 

[Binkley]

Here you go. You can see how the egg makes the seal - it doesn't matter where the seal is as long as there is one... (ok it sort of matters in order to get the most grip)

 

[Woodlvr]

Thanks for the pic's Eric. Nice looking chuck.

 

[tomturns49]

Thanks, that does look good. (Nice looking egg too). Is that seal recessed? What is the seal material? I can't tell, from the pic, but it looks like you've got about 3/4 of the egg sticking out?


camn

Originally posted by Binkley

Here you go. You can see how the egg makes the seal - it doesn't matter where the seal is as long as there is one... (ok it sort of matters in order to get the most grip)

 

[Binkley]

The seal is recessed a little bit so that when compressed it is closer to flush with the shape of the chuck. In the picture, about 3/4 is sticking out, but when under vacuum, it's closer to 1/2. The seal material is whatever Craft Supplies USA sells for vacuum chucks.

I do have a little too much egg sticking out, so the chuck is mostly used for final finish work, perhaps a little trimming on the end, but it's not super stable...