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Looking to set myself up with some vacuum clamping so that I can stop feeling like a monkey chasing a football down the stairs.

Been checking out veneersupplies.com and some other stuff.

Looking for suggestions, hints, tips and help.

Chris

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

I have a venturi valve hooked to my compressor which is outside to control the noise. It is a larger compressor but it still kicks on quite a bit.

I also have the small pump that LMI sells. This thing is so quiet it can be right next to your work space and not be a nuisance. I love it!

Like Robbie said the two factors are noise and air consumption. It is cheaper to go venture. But this means (even with a silencer on the venture) dealing with the noise and the air consumption. But you do have a much smaller foot print. You can build your on vacuum pump from a refrigerator compressor and $20 of materials. And you can by a vacuum pump as little as $150
http://www.shop.vacuumclamping.com/product.sc?categoryId=1&productId=9

You will still need hose and fittings for a simple system and more if you want a regulated system

I have a decent 25 gallon compressor and so the venturi valve concept appeals to me. However I don't want to deal with the constant cycling of the compressor. It's inside my shop and makes a LOT of noise. The Venturi valves can be a little noisy also. Even with mufflers.

Has anyone built the auto-cycling venturi system like the one mentioned here:
http://www.veneersupplies.com/product_i ... ts_id=1683

This appeals to me because it...apparently... does not constantly run. As long as the measured vacuum stays in a certain range it doesn't use air....thereby negating the need for the compressor to constantly keep up.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

What CMF at 90psi is your compressor? gallon of storage is a small apart of the issue. The big part of the equasion is when the compressor kicks on will it keep up with the CMF the venture is using?

My compressor is rated at 5.8cfm at 90psi. 20 gallon porter cable.

It will keep up...it runs my hvlp guns very well. My larger concern or goal is to keep the amount of cycling on and off to a minimum because again it's loud and it's in the shop.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

I have that one and it works great. It has a vacuum reservoir and a mac valve that closes of when the vacuum reaches your set point and when the vacuum drops 3 hg or so it kicks in again but the compressor only comes on when your air pressure drops to whatever setpoint your compressor has. If you have a good seal on your clamping fixture, you'll only hear the venturi every 5-8 minutes.I can clamp a bridge and I may hear the compressor kick in once every 10 minutes or so for just a few minutes. You will hear the venturi kick in each time the 3 hg setpoint is reached but just for a few seconds. It is a very nice unit but take extra care to get the plumbing sealed good when you build it. I didn't have any problem with mine but I have heard of others with leaks.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

John....if you are using vacuum to hold the body of the guitar while doing things like scraping binding, routing, or whatever...what type of hold mechanism are you using?

I am thinking I could make one but need a little direction.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

I like my Gast pump. I also have 2 PVC reservoirs built in it so it doesn't cycle on much.
I used the Joe the Woodworker setup

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I used a compressor venturi for about six months before the noise did my head in. When clamping a bridge I'd just leave the workshop for an hour or so because of the noise. Not the most productive use of time.

I then built the Joe Woodworker EVS Pump system with the PVC reservoirs and it's a dream. Just switch the unit on and it's fully charged in about 20 seconds and good to go. The pump cycles on for about 30 seconds every 10 minutes or so. Assembling the unit was incredibly simple. Once I had all the parts in it didn't take more than a few hours to assemble it all and have it going.

Having glued about 20-30 bridges in the past year with it (and the LMI bridge clamp) I'd honestly rate it up there at the top of my most useful tools-- it makes the process simple, quick and very consistent.

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Richard
http://www.guitarmaker.com

Chris, I have two Frig pumps and haven't built my vacuum yet but the beauty of these pumps are you can hardly hear them. I'd go that route and if you don't like it then you can go the other much more expensive route as the fixtures will still work on either pump. And they are pretty small and use less electricity then your compressor.

Dudes...I already sprang for the V2 auto cycling venturi system. I was aggravated with the cost of the LMI Vacuum Clamp so I didn't pay for the system with the pump (from veneer supplies).

Hopefully...the auto cycling will prevent my compressor from running too much cuz that thing is loud fer sure and I don't have a way to put it outside.

Money is spent....Chris I looked at the fridge compressor route and just decided to spend the money rather than the time.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.