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I had been a bit intimidated about making a vacuum press for gluing braces to plates. I already had a Gast continuous duty pump so I read, researched, and yesterday, finally bit the bullet.
I originally wanted a flip top system but a picture that Lance posted awhile back intrigued me.
This is just a vacuum top that you place down over your radius dish,turn on the pump and walk away. I made it yesterday and you can see it's in action today.
Aside from the pump, the parts, materials, etc were under $75.00.
I'll try to take the time this week to develop instructions and a material list for making your own.
With my MDF radisus dish, it's holding a pretty steady 17"hg. I think I can do better with some judicious sealing and fine tuning.

Looks good. Very inovative design. I may just steal your idea.

Al

That thing SUCKS,
real well!!!   

Great Idea, how come I didn't see that! What did you use to seal the rim? Do you have a link to Lances post?

Billy Dean Thomas

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Sweet!!!

I just finished building my press and was going to post a thread
asking folks to show off your vacuum rigs and setups.

Post away......

Louis

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

Thanks for showing this. I'd appreciate taking a glance at the instructions/parts list. Very creative I think.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

17" Hg isn't enough to do the job adequately. If you can get that up into the 25"+ range you're on your way.

Nice simple design.

New England Tonewoods is going to be offering some vac presses in the future based on my new design, which is a hinged system.


Don Williams38964.703900463

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I tweaked it a bit this afternoon and got it to 22hg. It's MDF so more sealant will be necessary. It's only got one thin coat of epoxy on the face and some silicone sealant on the rim of the dish.
However,IMHO a steady 17hg (my pump is continuously duty)is more than sufficient for bracing tops and backs. Laminating a neck is altogether different and I have a bag for that.
Not sure of the link to Lances post but I found it by searching the forum on "Vacuum".
The dish sealant was some high density weatherstrip from The Home Depot, the rubber for the press came from LMI, 1/16" surgical latex. The sealant, as I said was epoxy on the face of the MDF dish and for sealing the rubber to a rim I used GOOP and pressure from the screws.
So far, works like a charm.

Tom Armstrong

Thanks Tom!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)