Official Luthiers Forum!

Charles Fox has an article in the latest AL about a vacuum fixture he uses. It is great. You should check it out.

Did anybody else catch that?

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Sure did...Very cool as one would expect from CF.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Did you catch the bit about him using a big old air compressor tank for a vacuum reservoir? I was a little confused on what such a big tank will give you, and second how you wire two vac pumps in series.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Brock, I've seen Charles' vacuum setup and it is pretty cool. He has 2 vac pumps mounted on top of the (approx 60 gal) compressor tank, which serves as a resevoir and helps keep up with demand.

He also has run piping (really plastic tubing) to a bunch of different points in the shop and there are valves all over the place. When he has a need for vacuum he just plugs in and goes.

It is a great setup that I someday hope to copy.

_________________
Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I got a lot out of that article as well. It made me all the more excited about the Contemporary Guitar Making class I'm taking with Charles in March.

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd, that's the class that I took with Charles. Make sure you take a good camera with you.

_________________
Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I am sure... I bet that is just an idea a second out there.

Any engineer types reading this thread? I am still interested in whether or not the big vac chamber would be better than the smaller ones like Joe Woodworker has on his site. I built one of these, but if I could run more vac sources off of a large system I would be game to build one. I always see dead compressors on Craig's List for $25 or less.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

the purpose of a larger tank is to minimize the amount of work the compressor or vacuum pump has to do. Think of it as a reserve. There is always some loss when applying and removing pieces and especially if you are making jigs from wood or other porous materials. The same is true with air compressors and air tools.

Even on Joe Woodworkers site if you read through the "how to's" it recommends an auxillary tank. His setup is geared to a hobbyist and is focused on a small portable setup. Charles Fox runs a production shop with multiple people all using vacuum jigs, clamps and fixtures so the demand for vacuum capacity is much higher.

Brock, it is the same idea as Joe Woodworker has, it's just on a larger scale. Charles has a lot of vacuum lines and the idea is to evacuate the lines quickly when you want to use one. A bigger tank just gets the job done quicker.

I would think it might give you a minute or two to grab things in case of a power failure as well.

_________________
Dave Rector
Rector Guitars