there are robinair pumps on uk ebay most of the time,pretty much any of them will work,mine was about £100,its a bit noisy but infuses fine.like this one that finished- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/robinair-cooltech-6-cfm-vac-pump_W0QQitemZ300048092929QQihZ020QQcategoryZ22664QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Got one of these from Ebay for about £19: http://www.piab.com/Templates/WebBase/Datasheet.aspx?id=6936
You do need a compressor and a vacuum tank of some sort, but seems to work ok.
YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG with robinair pumps!!!
Spend the extra $50 and get it! 1 year over the counter warrenty!!
did you ever find why it was sucking oil? I played with my ball that was in there and it has not done it since. Wow that sounds like I was talking dirty lol
Thanks very much for the responses guys, I’ve also had a few emails from people offering assistance and its all very much appreciated.
It looks like I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and spend a bit more cash. I guess its not too much of a problem in that if I ever need to sell the pump I won’t loose to much cash on it.
Thought I’d update you all on my quest, its been a while but I just picked this pump up tonight that I won from ebay, paid £52 ($100 USD) its brand new in the box and has never been used, model number is Robinair 15401 - it will soon be time to try some resin infusion!. The pump is not filled with oil so I need to buy some, anyone have any idea where I can pick some up in the uk?
Great buy! That thing for $100 is excellent. I believe that’s the 4cfm version, which will evacuate good size mold bags.
We use similar Robinair pump, but 6 and 10cfm models. They work great, and allow several parts to be infused at a time with the same pump. Decently quiet, and hardly vibrate.
I think you’ll be quite pleased with your infusion results now. Do you have a good vacuum gauge?
Quite a score… Does anybody know what the difference is between the red and blue robinair vacuum pumps?
See… patience pays off!:D:cool:
You can google vacuum oil but i got my refined mineral oil from these guys along with some fittings.
http://www.scanwel.co.uk/shop/index.php3?SCREEN=item.inc&item=190
Baz
Cheers Baz, I’ll look them up
I need some flow media as well, where do you get your stuff from in the UK? I seem to be able to find everything other than that.
Haven’t got a vacuum guage yet but I’ve seen a few floating about on ebay so will make a purchase shortly. Need to fabricate some sort of degassing chamber too at some point. The homemade one from plumbing materials looks favourite at the moment 
I have added stew_b as a moderator and as soon as I can see some daylight over all this stuff from the classroom…:rolleyes:, I’ll be sending him a worldwide refrenace material soucre books to help you over the pond members better!
I will look up UK suppliers, and see if I find any that sell in relatively small amounts.
The vacuum gauge is super important. Otherwise you won’t know if you have a perfect seal, even if the bag looks sucked down.
And what do you mean by degassing chamber? I’m guessing you mean a catch pot that goes between the pump and layup in case excess resin makes it into the vacuum line. Or do you actually mean a chamber for degassing the resin?
Only time we use our degassing chamber is after mixing urethane for pouring or plastic for injection molding.
here you go harv my list of uk suppliers http://compositeforum.werksberg.com/showthread.php?t=1005
Baz
Spot on - sorry, poor choice of words on my account
Add also my home made pressure pot http://compositeforum.werksberg.com/showthread.php?t=1152&highlight=pressure
Baz
Has anyone ever used one of these types of vacuum pumps?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3952
I’m waiting on my refridge pump, but I was also thinking of using one of these.
Venturi type pumps work very well, but obviously you also need a pretty good compressor as well as the pump itself.
Plus you gotta listen to the compressor running till the part is done.
If your just doing once in awhile stuff get a Robinair, J/B, or Ritchie type pump.
If your doing a lotta stuff everyday get a Busch R5 or Rietschle type pump hooked into a good reservoir sysetm, with the CFM to match your output.
Unless the compressor you have doesnt have a cut off switch (which seems unlikely!), it will only run when pressure in the tank goes below a certain amount.
Unless sealing of vac is very poor indeed, a good multi stage venturi pump isnt going to have a lot of work to do, pressure drop on a reasonbly sized compressor tank isnt going to be that great, and compressor wont be running for very long at all.