Just got a new pump and have done my first board with it but noticed there was a fair bit of smoke coming out of the oil reseevoir. I dont think this is a good thing! Its a refigiration pump that i have connected a hose too but im wondering if i need an extra inline filter to make sure there is no epoxy fumes entering the pump?
i can put up a pic of the setup if it helps… My previous pump had a seperate container that the air was taken through first but im thinking just a small filter on the line should be enough or a smart way to divert the fumes? Used thick breather material under the intake so there was no chance of the pump pulling in actual epoxy…
Thanks jrandy , yeah heres a pic of the pump , i ran it afterwards and it ran without smoke so i figured its definitely the epoxy fumes and it was running hot ish but its designed to go continuous under vacuum… The smoke was coming out from under the oil cap but when i ran it without the epoxy there was no smoke…
Hi Nocean, that’s my personal idea on the smoke… it’s not coming from epoxy, but is it coming from a small leack in the bag, in this way vacuum pump is still sucking a small amount of air, passing thorught compressor and oil, emulsionating it become smoke, I’m pretty sure the smell of the smoke was absolutely different from epoxy (my epoxy never smoke). The next time you can try to close the sucking tube with the clamp you have in the picture and you can look if the smoke stop in a minute, my suggestion is to check the bag more than one time, add vacuum meter (you can buy one for 3 dollars on aliexpress), add a resin trap, and if you want you can even create an adjustable vacum switch with syringe with a metal spring inside it (less than 10 dollars for all the stuff). With the vacuum meter you can check the pressure, stopping the pump you can check if there are some leacks, and with the vacuum switch you can use less eletric power and your pump will last longer.
If you need pictures I can send you some of them, but you simply need to type in google and you can find all the picture you want…
If I will find time I wanted to create an arduino system based with vacuum pressure and relay to let the pump work only in a determinated range of value, I have all in my mind I need only time to do it.
Bingo i think you nailed it! I tried the clamp at one point because i was worried and the smoke stopped so yeah the bag may have a very small leak and like you say be takimng in air, thats why this place is so handy! Thanks ill try a few things and get it running next board…
It’s your pump. The oil filled pumps get hot, exhaust steam. Oil is in the steam. Run it a long time and they run out of oil. Get an oil-less type pump designed for continuous duty. Much better and worth the extra cost.
Thanks yeah it is quite hard over here to get a specific pump but as long as i make sure it has oil i was told will do the job and it has done so but hoping i can eliminate the smoke, cheers for the tips
Yeah I don’t know much about vac pumps; but my first thought was check the oil if it’s not an oil less pump. And it look like it is not. Burned up a compressor that way once. LowelLowel
For vaccum bag lam, a oil less vac pump make for continu turn is better because it give a constant vac even at low depressure, what’s needed for an effective vac lam. Most are “palette” (in french) pump. For vac bag sandwich skin, ie clamping, all kind of pump with simple vac regulate system is good.
I’ve been using the Gast pump from Joe for years. The pump finally crapped out and replaced it with Joe’s newest pump. The new pump is super quiet compared to the old Gast. I love it. My only issue with Joe’s updated kit, is he’s using too much plastic (his filter is plastic. I reused my old parts (metal filter housing). Pipe threads suck in plastic parts.
Its a refigiration pump that i have connected a hose too but im wondering if i need an extra inline filter to make sure there is no epoxy fumes entering the pump? 
