Im getting excited today as my Vacuum pump arrives this afternoon - This will be my first vacuum pump that I have purchased.
http://birch-sales.com/estore/product_info.php?cPath=21_95&products_id=459
Anyone had any experience with these?
The Robinair 1560 is awesome. I love mine.
Awesome mate! 
Ive just purchased my breach unit and female socket connectors just need to get the hoses etc - whats all that fancy stuff connected to her?
Thats what im thinking Wade - There seem to be ALOT of different setups on the Robinair pumps.
Im getting the 15600 in a few days & trying to find the best setup.
Ive been saving pics when I come across different configurations on the net.
$270 on ebay shipped is the best price so far.
Its all new territory for me too Mike - I Picked up this one for £195 GBP including delivery.
Mac valve, filter, vac sensor…so you can dial it to pull any amount of vac and it will auto cycle on and off as needed to maintain the preset level of vac.
I have the same pump, it works very well. Just keep an eye on the oil level after each use, as these pumps do burn oil - it is completely normal. I use Robinair vacuum pump oil in mine.
Running the pump for prolonged times at less than 25hg will cause the pump to get very hot. Always before walking away from the pump for any length of time, make sure it is pulling 25 or more hg. and it will run for 12 hours at a time easily.
I never ran mine for more than 12 hours per use.
Unless you rig up the mac valve/ vacuum switch/resevior set up like pictured above… then the pump will only turn on when vacuum dips below a preset setting. Say you want the pump to kick back on at 25hg… it will kick on until that 25hg is reached then it will automatically turn off and repeat as needed.
I’m using the same vac switch, through a relay, to cycle the pumps. Works a treat, on a well sealed bag the pump hardly runs at all.
There’s a sticky on that here somewhere when I put mine together. Works well. You’ll like the setup for sure.
Found it. http://www.compositeforum.werksberg.com/showthread.php?t=2588
One of the issues I see with these “automatic” setups is that the pump valve is left in the open position at all times. Not good when the lines are under vacuum.
The pump should be shut off after turning the valve to the closed position, and then vented by turning to the open position. If the motor is shut off with the system at full vacuum and the valve is left open, it will suck pump oil out from the port.
Though the pump valve stays open, the inlet is vented to atmosphere when the pump is turned off, via the MAC valve. It’s not the same as the recommended shut-off procedure, but it should be close, and definitely not as bad as leaving the inlet in vacuum for the whole duration.
Yeah, I thought something like that might be in use. It just switches between open and closed.
We use a similar setup for the systems that have several lines attached.
I think the design from JoeWoodworker addresses those concerns Tet. The Mac valve and check valve in the system do a good job from isolating the pump and the small reservoir allow the pump to start under low vacuum reducing hard starts against higher vacuum levels in the layup.
I have a press set up built using parts from Joe veneer.
The big problem I have is vacuum controller switch thingy.
when it kicks off , it takes 7-8" of vac loss before it will kick on again. Do they make a more accurate vacuum controller?