Vacuum Pump

[harve]

I have struggled with everything from screws to clamps to double sided tape with mixed results. Here is what I hope will be the best resolution. I used the design Bill Palumbo describes on his web site. Thanks Bill for sharing your design.

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[billp]

Mike,
It looks good ! In fact it's a neater, tighter setup than my original prototype.Add a few pods/pucks, and you're in business...!

[harve]

Thanks Bill. Your design is great. One question: in the "out" port on your pump there is something black attached is that a filter or some type of muffler?

[billp]

Mike,
It's an "exhaust muffler" and I got it from -www.veneersupplies.com (http://www.veneersupplies.com) ( same people as www.joewoodworker.com (http://www.joewoodworker.com))It costs about $2.75, and they claim it reduces pump noise between 17-22 Db.

[harve]

Thanks Bill, I have one on the way.

[steve_fedor]

I,am in the process of building a simular set-up with the same vacumn pump. How were you able to wire the system with a 220 pump and 110 mac value.

[Gary Campbell]

Steve...
IF you are going to mix 120V and 240V on one cord you should use a 4 wire cord, plug & receptacle. (code)

Joe woodworker has mac valves in both 120 and 240 versions. I recommend using the relay as they show on the site. even with low draw motors, you get a better safer action with the relay rather than simply switching one of the hot legs of a 240V circuit with a vac switch. If you do use the relay and have a neutral present, then you will be able to switch a 120V MAC valve also. (120V or 240V) IF you need diagrams beyond what is available on joes site, email me.

Gary

[blackhawk]

Is this type of vacuum pump setup mainly for use with pods? I want to do my 4 x 8 table with maybe 8 zones pulling through Trupan. My initial plan was to just get a Fein vac for the vacuum source. But the Fein is $450 and the vacuum pump setup above looks to be much cheaper. Is the Gast pump setup appropriate for spoilboard use?

[ljdm]

You won't have enough CFM with that type of pump for a whole table/spoilboard. Shop around - I've seen the Feins for closer to 350-375.

[blackhawk]

Lou - I did some shopping, the best that I can find is $409 so far. Do you happen to remember where you may have seen the $350 - $375 prices?

[ljdm]

Prices have risen in the few months since I purchased - 399.98 now. Sorry. www.toolbarn.com (http://www.toolbarn.com)

[rcnewcomb]

The GAST works great with pucks but cannot move enough air for pulling through the spoil board.

If you have a shop vac lying around it is worth it to experiment with that. You could also spend $30 at Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100021998) for a cheap vac, again, just to validate that this is the route you want to go.

We ran for 18 months with an old Sears shop vac before we finally switched over.

[fmihm]

An excellent tool for finding Web prices is Google Product Search -- it used to be called Froogle.
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Here's the link for Google Product Search, set to display 100 results per page and showing the results in ascending price order:
http://www.google.com/advanced_product_search?num=100&scoring=p&btnG=Sea rch+Froogle&price=between&as_occt=any&cat=0&filter =1&tiled=0&safe=active&lmode=online (http://www.google.com/advanced_product_search?num=100&scoring=p&btnG=Sea rch+Froogle&price=between&as_occt=any&cat=0&filter =1&tiled=0&safe=active&lmode=online)
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Here's the search for Fein and "Turbo III", starting at $200:
http://www.google.com/products?as_q=Fein+&num=100&scoring=p&btnG=Search+ Products&as_epq=Turbo+III&as_oq=&as_eq=&price1=200 &price2=&as_occt=any&show=dd&safe=active (http://www.google.com/products?as_q=Fein+&num=100&scoring=p&btnG=Search+ Products&as_epq=Turbo+III&as_oq=&as_eq=&price1=200 &price2=&as_occt=any&show=dd&safe=active)
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It finds one at $365 (Toolmarts.com) and one at $380 (HectorsHardware.biz). There are others that are more expensive.

[Gary Campbell]

Brad...
Before I actually took delivery of the Bot, I made a small vac chamber, used a piece of 1/2" Trupan on top, and plumbed it to my 4CFM 22 inHg Vac pump that I use for vac bagging. I can tell you that even a 6" square of bleeder will not hold down a part with only 4CFM available. With a 6" square of plastic on top of the bleeder, I couldnt even develop 1" of vacuum.
Gary

[blackhawk]

Frank - Thanks. I used your link. The first two places said that they were cheaper than toolbarn, but when I clicked on them the price showed up well over $400?

Randall - I saw Ed's Fein at the camp on Saturday. The low noise level on the Fein sold me. It makes my Sears shop vac sound like a freight train.

[rcnewcomb]

>>We ran for 18 months with an old Sears shop vac before we finally switched over.

>It makes my Sears shop vac sound like a freight train.

Now I know why my hearing is shot. I thought it was all that rock-n-roll in the 60s & 70s.

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[wmwmacs]

A newbe with a freebe, I am a A/C contractor and have a couple 7cfm vacuum pumps that were removed from service about a year ago .If you live around Phoenix, AZ and would like one contact me.

[ed_lang]

Brad, and everyone else.

Yes the Fein is very quiet. It is not so because of the motor, it is so because of the "muffler" system under the top. Wards motors from Lighthouse are much cheaper, but make more noise because there is no "muffler" on the motor, just the discharge port. I think one of us with a Fein should take the top off and take pictures so others can see how they do it. It takes a long skinny screwdriver. I don't have the right one or I would be posting pictures here now. I'll try and pickup one soon or maybe someone will get it done before me.

If you are going to run a Fein or multiple Feins, you can get them from ShopBot with your machine. I had trouble with both of mine imploding when used more than a few minutes. The heat causes the orange canisters to get soft and then they implode. That is why I build the small boxes for both of the "power heads" to sit on.

[blackhawk]

Ed - In one of your articles, you show a muffler attached to your vac motor. Do these mufflers make the the Lighthouse motors as quiet as the Fein with canister? Or at least close?

I could not find the muffler on the Lighthouse website. Do you have a link? Thanks

[blackhawk]

I found the link for the muffler http://www.centralvacuummotor.com/muffler.htm

Ed - I still would like to know how you think the motors w/muffler compare to Fein noise.

[ed_lang]

The Fein vacs are quite and if you use them as a baseline, all others are producing more noise.

The muffler on the discharge of the motors I have take the high pitched scream away 100%. You are still left with the noise the motor is making and what noise gets out of the housing. I have found that mounting the motors to a sheet of plywood acts like a sounding board and caused the motors to sound louder. The key elements seem to me are having a muffler on the discharge, mounting the motors so they are shock mounted and enclosing them in a foam box but maintain air flow for cooling. This is exactly what the Fein vacs have.

I need a meter to show exactly how much noise the motors make next to the Fein. My opinion is that the motors make more noise than the Fein, but with the cost savings, I'll work towards getting the noise down. If the Feins were $175 each, I would buy 4 Fein vacs and be very happy. In my opinion, I can figure out some enclosure to house the motors and make it as quite as a Fein. I just have not had the time to work on this yet.