Harbor freight has a new vac pump that pulls 2.6 cfm. Too little pull?
That’s not the vacuum, that how much air it moves. It pulls plenty vacuum I would believe. Moving alot of air will help you remove the excess air in the bag faster. 2.6cfm is pretty good compared to the fridge type vacuum pumps.
good find Resinhead…
the website says:
“75 micron/10 Pascal maximum vacuum”
is that enough suck Haavard? i thought the compsand guys
usually run somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 hg…???
Here you go guys. This will pull all you need. 1.2 takes some time to get the air out of the bag but once it’s pulling it’ll do all you need.
View more U.S. General items 1.2 CFM Vacuum Pump 
Increase the life of your air conditioning or refrigeration system with this vacuum pump, which removes moisture from condensable gas.
- Durable die cast aluminum housing and convenient top handle for easy handling
- Easy-access oil fill port with viewing window for easy maintenance
- 1/4" SAE intake fitting with dual ports for R134A and R12/R22 systems
- 75 micron/10 Pascal maximum vacuum
- Thermal overload protection
- Includes 8 oz. pump oil bottle and 5 foot 9" grounded power cord
Weight: 15.28 lbs.
ITEM 98074-4VGA
$76.99
I found that the CFM does not matter as much as resivior capacity. I am a proponent of pre-charging a resivior to a full vacuum and then using a valve to control the airflow from the vac bag into the resivior.
10 pascal = 0.000 098 692 316 931 atmosphere [standard]
1 atmosphere [standard] = 14.695 950 254 pound/square inch
0 atmosphere [standard] is a full vacuum.
Exactly, Here’s something that can be used. 7 GALLON ALUMINUM AIR TANK 
Weighing less than 10 pounds, this air tank is 15 pounds lighter than rolled steel tanks!
- Durable aluminum construction
- Whole unit will not rust
- Easy grip aluminum handles
Weight: 9.55 lbs.
ITEM 94801-2VGA
$79.99
Yeah, now if you wait for the Harbor freight 25% off any single item coupon. you can get it for real cheap.
So the 1.2 CFM with a external tank would work. This is good.
For only $10 more the 1.4cfm of the 2.6cfm version seems like a substantial improvement.
right on Resinhead thanks for the heads up on this…
i was thinking about doing the venturi vacuum setup from Joewoodworker.com
but if this little pump will work, that’s even better. that way i don’t have to
lug around my 30 gallon craftsman compressor.
Don’t use a compressor, too noisey
I’d ask the supplier about that pump, get some more info… it’s a high vac refrigeration pump
Not usually any good for vac bagging!
Pumps like that are generally only happy when running at full vac, and not displacing any air.
With the vac bags we use, there are so many leaks that the vac pump is constantly flowing air, which they really don’t like.
Look for something that is designed for the job - this pump may be, i’m just saying check it out first.
It’s a quick way of killing a vacuum pump!
personally, I went with the EV2 kit from Joe Woodworker because I got a killer deal
on a monster vac pump on craigslist.
that being said, my pump is so meaty that it’s blown out my vacuum controller and
I’m having a ridiculous time finding the necessary electrical components to make
everything work together.
presently, llilibel has been kind enough to lend me his pump…it’s very similar to
this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gast-DOA-P104-AA-Oil-less-Diaphram-Vacuum-Pressure-Pump_W0QQitemZ390000883361QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item390000883361&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
(there are better prices out there)
this is similar in form factor to the harbor freight.
I tend to think this pump is better for my needs because it is far quieter.
mine is so loud that you really want to get it set up with the whole kit for switching on and off as needed, but the fact of
the matter is that I never get that thing to cycle any less than once every few (less than 5 min) and so it’s probably more
annoying than if I just ran it continuously…I’m using good bags and proper bag clamps.
llilibel’s is so quiet, I ran it well in to the am this past week bagging a lam…hooked it up to a cheap timer and slept through
it…this makes my operating hours much wider than usual since I can do a laminate before bed time now.
I’ve posted this before and can’t understand why everyone doesn’t use this system. Cheap and easy.
Made from a glue bottle.
First suck out 95% of air with shop vac.
Then put bottle cap on. It’s a perfect fit for 1/2" tubing.
CFM is a non issue. Pump is rated 24/7 and very quiet. Just dial in the exact vac you want and walk away.
One like this on ebay.
Yep, thats a beautiful vac bagging pump!
Notice that the max vac is 25.5" - thats a dead give-away that it is meant for low vac operations with bags that leak.
Also it’s oil-less and a diaphram, which is another indication.
That other high vac pump will be rated for constant running too, but maybe only at high vac!
Just be wary of any pump that pulls a seriously high vacuum, they are designed to do that and not much else.
It’s a cheap deal on a pump though, so maybe just use it anyway 
Resinhead, CFM is the rate of air the pump can move under a no-load condition. As air is drawn from the bag, the CFM drops because there is less air to move. To keep the pump operating at a constant speed, outside air is drawn in to maintain the CFM. Using a surge tank is that is a larger volume than the bag draws it down much more quickly than using a pump alone, and you are basically pumping out the tank rather than the bag itself. As others posted, you can initially draw the bag down using a shop vac instead of a tank. You don’t need a large and noisey pump to maintain the low vacuum level in the bag using a two-stage system with a tank. Tanks can be made of PVC pipe, and these can also function as a separator to keep resin fumes and any contaminates from reaching the pump. If you got a production area in mind with multiple hook-ups to a large tank, then you’ll need like a 2-3 CFM pump. Piston pumps are the most common, but are the noisest. Rotary ones are quiet, but expensive. Refrigerator compressors can be run like a pump, but they will be low CFM and will take time to evacuate a tank.
Jay, a reservoir tank will help to keep the pump from running 24/7, especially if you use your bags over and over like we do. We use a shop vac to pull down the bag then put the pump hose on. We use the thick green bags with the 2 piece plastic sealer that’s kind of like a giant zip lock. We keep a small opening to put the shop vac attachment into the bag, once the bag is pulled down the way we want it, we pull the shop vac out, seal the bag and let the pump/tank do it’s thing.
Sometimes using just a pump gives you a lot of time to mess with how the bag gets pulled down. If you don’t do it right the bag or the peel to keep the bag clean can get stuck between the blank and the skins if the skin runs all the way to the rail edge. With the shop vac, we just open it up and fix it then pull the vacuum down again.
I find it easier to bag boards with 2 people, especially if you use thicker skins. Doing the type of skins GL showed in the WMD thread would be easy to do by yourself.
That GAST pump looks pretty good. Anything with variable pressure designed to go 24/7 would be very simple to get started.
Thanks Harry, and all!
For those who don’t know … and sorry to the guys for the guys who do, the shop vac gets the air out of the bag much quicker than a vac pump which is why people use them. But the shop vac will only pull 5 inches and they overheat and can even catch on fire if you leave them on. So using the shop vac to get the initial pull going and then shifting to the pump is what the pro shops do.