help in building a vacuum chuck

[allen jay]

I recently acquired a vacuum pump and am wondering what does a guy need to do to set this thing up for use?
What additional parts are required etc etc etc.
Can i build my own chucks??
Please help?

 

[john lucas]

Allen There was a really good article covering all of that stuff in American Woodturner about 6 to8 years ago. If you are an AAW member you can access all of the issues online. I have not played with it to see if it has a search feature. I'm on my second vacuum system and built them both based on info from those articles. I have a PDF at home that is a drawing of how I set up my system and how I built my first vacuum connector and my vacuum chucks. If you will send an e-mail to johnclucas@charter.net I'll forward that to you. It might help.

 

[n7bsn]

Allen, I am going to assume you have a hollow head-stock

You need to bring the vacuum through the head-stock, that can be done with a 3/8 npt pipe, like used for making lamps. You need a valve and bleed assembly on the vacuum pump end and a good seal on the other end.

The tricky bit is something needs to rotate, while holding a good seal. I used a Holdfast adapter (available at Craft Supplies and Packard, among probably others)

The chuck can be easy. A face plate screwed to a goodly chunk of MDF. Drill a hole in the center of the MDF, Cut a grove in the MDF, sized to hold either a 3 inch or 4 inch waste (plumbing waste) coupler. Glue this in place. Glue a gasset like "foam" on the outside edge of the coupler (like bits of a mouse pad)

Hope this is some help (there are some great books and web-sites that explain this much better then I did)

TTFN
Ralph

 

[Wipedout]

Allen

Like was stated - lots of sites with info

Oneway has a nice diagram that will help explain all the peices that can be in play here

http://www.oneway.ca/vacuum/index.htm Click on the link to view picture of complete assembly.

You dont have to buy all the stuff they sell but it will give you a feel for what all is required.

Also here is a great site from a very nice guy that has explains it well
http://www.mv.com/users/besposito/woodworking/vacuumchuck.html

 

[Ed Davidson]

There are several past American Woodturner articles on building and using a vacuum chuck. Here's a screen-shot from our online searchable database:

 

[Cathy Schaewe]

Here's an article I found immensely helpful:
http://www.jtturningtools.com/files/BUILDVACSYS.pdf

 

[laymarcrafts]

Allen I built both my own System and Various Chucks all the details can be found on my web site:

http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk/tip42.htm

Richard

 

[Steve Worcester]

at the top of the HOW TOO section of the forums

http://www.aawforum.org/vbforum/showthread.php?t=731

 

[Woody Woodbury]

This link will give you all the info you will need. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=75579&highlight=vacuum+chuck