Wondering if any of you know of cheap vacuum pump sources for use in vacuum bagging. I’ve been using a venturi hooked to my air compressor, and it works GREAT, but I fear the next time I lam a board at 11pm and leave my 3hp compressor run all night outside the neighbor may put a bullet hole in it … thinking there’s got to be a better way that doesn’t cost a fortune for an occasional home user.
I wonder about stealing a compressor off one of those mini-fridges and replumbing it … though a person would need to add a switching system or a bleeder valve to regulate the vacuum …
Better though would be to just find a simple vacuum pump out there, that does the job, without all the bells and whistles and $300 price tag.
His email, if you’d like to just ask about a pump, is I get all these eBay alerts that he again has something like what I bought, so I know he sells them a lot…
Mine is working awesome…
I built it out with a vac switch from ACP, 1/4" tubing & ABS pipe (for tanks) from Home Depot, and a regular light switch. Less than $75 all together & pulls down a whole longboard bag in about 15 minutes - holds it at 9-12 "Hg all night long…
Watch for “aspirator” pumps on ebay. These sometimes get overlooked by the high-bidding vacuum pump buyers, especially if the word “vacuum” isn’t in the description. I got mine, a ww2-era military-issue oil-vaned pump, for like $40. It works great, don’t even use a switch, just adjust the bleeder valve until the pressure is right, let it run and keep it oiled. I’ve probably got several hundred hours on it with no problems.
