mwenman
Member
Would the venturi box from HF that is used to pull a vacuum on the pressure pots work sufficiently to use for a vacuum chuck on a lathe?
Vacuum Chucks
- Thread starter mwenman
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I know some folks use the HF venturi vacuum pump for this purpose. I would imagine the effectiveness would depend on the porosity of the wood. It looks like this pump can generate sufficient vacuum in a sealed chamber, but I am not sure about how many CFM it can pull. If you were trying to chuck end grain red oak for example to make a goblet I doubt it would work. If you were trying to chuck face grain of maple I would think it would work fine.
I plan to give it a try myself, I have one on order and am in the process of gathering the parts to make the vacuum adapter for my lathe. I figure if the $16 ventury VP works then I have saved myself the ~$300 for a good pump.
I plan to give it a try myself, I have one on order and am in the process of gathering the parts to make the vacuum adapter for my lathe. I figure if the $16 ventury VP works then I have saved myself the ~$300 for a good pump.
Dario
Member
I've read something a while back that you probably would need a good pump AND a big air tank. I don't know if this is true but worth looking at.
alamocdc
Member
You "could" use this pump for vacuum chucking, but you'll need a helluva compressor to do it. The venturi pump relies on a pretty serious air supply from an air compressor. My compressor wouldn't run my venturi vacuum pump long enough. It doesn't produce enough sustained cubic feet per minute (SCFM). Even with a good mondo compressor, it will run a lot, if not continuously. The would use a lot of electricity, and quickly offset the cost of a good Gast vacuum pump.
dbriski
Member
Check out www.joewoodworker.com All kinds of good information about building vaccum pumps, veneering, and some vaccum chucking.
Exerpt from his website:
I used that same venturi with a vacuum press for several years before I realized how inefficient it was. In May of 2005, I sent one out for lab testing (which cost a small fortune). The results were surprisingly disappointing.
First, HF rates it at 4.2 CFM. This the air consumption, not the vacuum flow. What's important though is that the true air consumption was almost 8 CFM. In fact, I sent them two more units for testing because I thought the first venturi I sent had to be defective. It wasn't. They all gulped up 8 CFM of air to pull full vacuum.
Second, they only pulled between 1.75 and 2.05 CFM of vacuum flow. That's a loss co-efficient of 75 percent.
Lastly, there is absolutely no way to muffle the horrendous sound that these emit without further reducing its capability.
I was hesitant to add this to the FAQ because I don't want to see anyone waste their money with the HF venturi. I know it may sound like I'm just trying to be "Joe Salesman" but honestly, the HF unit is not worth the savings over buying the new model venturi that's on the VeneerSupplies.com website.
I had the HF vac, and I would agree with his information. I also bought the one he sells but have yet to use it.
Exerpt from his website:
I used that same venturi with a vacuum press for several years before I realized how inefficient it was. In May of 2005, I sent one out for lab testing (which cost a small fortune). The results were surprisingly disappointing.
First, HF rates it at 4.2 CFM. This the air consumption, not the vacuum flow. What's important though is that the true air consumption was almost 8 CFM. In fact, I sent them two more units for testing because I thought the first venturi I sent had to be defective. It wasn't. They all gulped up 8 CFM of air to pull full vacuum.
Second, they only pulled between 1.75 and 2.05 CFM of vacuum flow. That's a loss co-efficient of 75 percent.
Lastly, there is absolutely no way to muffle the horrendous sound that these emit without further reducing its capability.
I was hesitant to add this to the FAQ because I don't want to see anyone waste their money with the HF venturi. I know it may sound like I'm just trying to be "Joe Salesman" but honestly, the HF unit is not worth the savings over buying the new model venturi that's on the VeneerSupplies.com website.
I had the HF vac, and I would agree with his information. I also bought the one he sells but have yet to use it.
Daniel
Member
David, Is this the one you speak of for $42.00? http://www.veneersupplies.com/images/vacpro.gif
Gary Max
Member
Remember---that chuck is the only thing holding the wood to the Lathe------I bought the Oneway system running a Gast pump.