Looking for some reliable gauges. Digital would be nice. Any suggestions for some good brands? What to look for?
Thanks.
The Greisinger GDH 200-14 seems to be a good one. You can buy it for around € 180.
I use a supco vg64 and you can find it for around €100, works fine for me.
I use a tecsis brand oil filled dial gauge. AUD$60
The Greisinger is perfect, it is the only one I use.
Those sound good, unfortunately a bit tough to get a hold of in Canada… Any suggestions for the North American market?
you can purchase the GDH200-14 from vacmobiles in New Zealand. You would receive in a couple days of the order. Their surface is amazing and Cliff is very knowledgeable and great source to have.
This one looks pretty promising, any thoughts? Looks like a similar unit to the vacmobiles offering.
http://www.testo.com/product/0560+5520/testo-552-Digital-Vacuum-Gauge
Testo - 10 mb. Resolution with ± 10 mb tolerance.
Griesinger- 1 mb resolution with ± 1 mb tolerance.
Griesinger - absolute Guage
Testo- brags that it isn’t an absolute guage. :o
Purchase from german advanced comp ( mti guy) in florida.
The Griesinger one is awesome, got one…
Cheekybrad, the German unit is twice the price of the Testo. While I appreciate the level of craftsmanship of the German unit isn’t it overkill for a home hobbyist? I suppose there is always a decent resale value in these things if I ever want to get rid of it.
:pOverkill…hmmmmm probley, the testo (and all guages that are not an absolute)will be hard to differentiate the boiling level (15mb for me) and when it’s ready to infused (10mb and lower). The instant feedback on leak down tests compared to a longer or less accurate guage makes it worth the money. I do this stuff for living so the value has payed back quickly 
a inexpensive dial guage that doesn’t leak would work fine then. I think that there is no use for anything between inexpensive dial and an absolute guage ( griesinger… )worth buying because it won’t work any better . Dial or go big:p
To be honest, it will be one of the best investments you can ever make. Professional, or hobbyist. If I were you I would just dig deep and buy the GDH200-14. Ive used them for the past 6 years and I would never not use them for infusion process. Even better is to have two of them, one hooked up to your vacuum tank, the other hooked up to your resin inlet before infusion.
I imagine it would be just as handy for ooa prepregs as it is for infusion…
I’m going to consider the gdh200, thanks guys
Yes, it is of course. vacuum integrity is important for all processes. But for infusion it is absolutely crucial.
I’m also interested in one of these gauges gdh 200 14 but can’t find a link anywhere or on e bay. Same as the OP I’m in Alberta Canada.
Not very Internet savvy having trouble finding Canadian price? Or someone that would ship it to me.
find German advanced composites on google. The guy is located in Florida and will be able to get it to you.
Couldn’t find it the first time,got it now.
Rc have you found anywhere in Canada or better yet in Alberta for a similar gauge?Anything to avoid those UPS theifs.
honestly, Alberta and most of Canada is a dead spot for anything… Try Composites Canada, they seem to have a decent selection, but expect to pay the Canadian premium… They also have some sort of vacuum gauge that appears to be similar.
looking at conversion values
1 micron = 0.001 mBar
This vac gauge http://www.mastercool.com/pages/98061.html gets down to about 0.001mBar ±1.5%
while the Griesinger gets to 1mBar ±1mBar
Is this because the Griesinger is an absolute gauge?
How are other people here finding the Supco VG64? I’ve got one myself, but to be honest I don’t really trust it. Occasionally it shows me 29.66in/Hg when I’ve got a leak so big it can’t even pull the bag down, and other times it doesn’t display a value at all (indicating that their is a leak) when a 30 minute drop test with my analogue gauge tells me it isn’t leaking at all.
So it’s inconsistency puts me off. What do others think?
I bought and use the TESTO 552 as well. Really great gauge.