I have a Robinair 6 CFM, got it over 4 years ago and still pulls 30" HG.
hence using a venturi first then a pump
ok… so we built a full scale mocked up of the sikorskyx2 prototype… it was a mould that was about 8 feet accross and 25 feet long… after about an hour with 4 pumps running… we went to vacuum cleaners. breaking open the bag and inserting the hose. meanwhile the resin was going to start kicking any minute. thankfully we made it in time and came up with a better plan for the second half.
on the second half we used venturis and then switched to the pumps.
the pumps dont pull as much volume as the venturis but they do pull more vacuum when the bag draws in… if you dont have holes.
Radial blowers are also very efficient for evacuating a lot of air in a short time.
One of my next projects involves the infusion of a 65 meter object. Plenty of air to move…
I’m thinking of going this route myself since its the most affordable option. Are these pumps still holding up? Also what fittings are you using to connect to your air lines?
Pump is still fine but I don’t use it for constant production use. Works well for the small test samples I lay up once or twice a week. For the air fitting I just use regular barbed connectors, There’s threaded ports so you can connect whatever you want.
my pump is still working fine.its 2 years old.i use it almost every day.i removed the T fitting from the pump and installed a barbed fitting.i used high temp hose and qd connectors.
So its fine for small parts, but how big can it go? I would ultimately be pulling it on a 6ftx 3ft sheet for my boat.
Also how fast is it dropping the bags? Can you just shut off the pump to adjust, or did you rig a valve?
This makes me feel better about my recent HF Vacuum pump purchase. I bought it mainly for automotive A/C usage, but figured I would try some vacuum bagging projects. Mostly small items.
Do what we do and buy the 1 year warrantee. We replaced ours 3 times already on the same warantee ;-).