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I just picked up this refrigerator compressor and was thinking about using it for vacuum clamping. It had been removed from whatever it was in and was sitting on someone’s shelf in their garage. I don’t know yet if it works.


At this point I am going to try and just test he compressor out. I have seen a couple of posts where people have used these but have not seen anything about hooking up the electrical side of he project. I’m probably going to wire in a switch, but for now I am wondering if anyone can tell me which terminal to hook which wire up to?

Here is a photo with the electrical cover removed.

can't remember right off the top of my head if they cover refrigerator pumps, but http://www.joewoodworker.com/ is an excellent site for information on vacuum press / clamping and what not. I'm currently building an EVS pump setup for the laminating veneers to create my back and sides for the Selmer I am building. I went ahead and bought a pump through them, but I am sure that the design can be accomodated for what you have.

Greg

Thanks. That looks like a promising resource. I'll have to poke around and see if I find anything on the fridge compressor. But there are a lot of good ideas over there.

I just need to figure out which ones are right for me.

John

It looks like you are missing the start capacitor. A local HVACR shop should have what they call a 3n1 or hardstart kit.
They are fairly inexpensive and have a simple wiring diagram with them. You will need to remove the relay and snap disc
from your compressor. The relay should just pull straight off and leave three terminal posts. The 3n1 replaces the capacitor,
relay and snap disc.

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Chris

Thanks Chris and welcome to the Forum.

I’ll see if I can find that part. It is always nice to know what you are asking for.

Thanks again,

John

You can take it down to the local appliance repair shot and they can get you fixed up. And if it doesn't work you can probably buy a whole scrap fridge from them for $20 and take the pump out like I did and let them trash the rest of the box.

Be sure to dump most of the oil out of your compressor, before you fire it up.
Mine filled my shop with oil vapour when I first started it. Even once I had removed most of the oil, it still smelled pretty bad. I ended up venting the vacuum exhaust hose outside.
Some of the copper lines can be soldered closed to prevent spillage & increase the available vacuum. I think Joewoodworker has some good info on this.
I just kinda trial & errored it!
Mine would suck down to a hefty 29.5" Hg easily. Better than my new "real" vacuum pump, but it was slower pulling down a large press.
Good luck with the project.
By the way... I went through four discarded pumps before I found a good one.

There was a great thread on fridge pumps a month or three back. I believe it was Shane who laid out his project.

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Gabriel Regalbuto
Carlsbad, California
Freedom 35!