rosewood / curly maple /purpleheart / lacewood #3: operating in a vacuum !

Yeah but your free.

-- Ain't better or worse than any other woodpecker in the woods.

I was only discussing the use of a shop vac as a vacuum pump press for veneering just this week. It was with Pommy on Skype.. He wanted to use the wifes storage bags.. lol. So don’t anyone tell her.

-- Drink once, cut twice. New website up.... lazylarrywoodworks.com.au

using the bubble wrap is genius…excellent idea.

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ Stay so busy you don't have time to die.

Hey David,
Clever idea and cheap…....well done.

-- I will just keep doing it till I get it right.

Brilliant! I wonder if this would work on pizza dough. You never cease to amaze me David with your know how and ingenuity. I guess that’s what comes from having to actually earn a living doing woodworking, something I could never do.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Jeez, David… A highly skilled Craftsman, a Philosopher, a Poet, an Artist, an Adviser, and now a Space Scientist and Engineer…If you are thinking in a vacuum, most of the rest of us are trying to slog through mud!
Great Thinking… Again!

-- Mike in Manchester, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

this just keeps getting better David
i’m gonna try this sunburst but on a trivet or something small first
what is your substrate and type of epoxy? it would have to be slow setting i assume

-- Ron, Missouri

Aaahhh, David,
Surgery is a lot like woodworking.
We have this same system at the hospital for wound care.
It is basically identical except the bubble wrap is engineered foam, and the wood is wound tissue void of skin.
It’s called a wound vac. You could have been a millionaire if only you incorporated this to medical field.

Another excellent tutorial, I tucked it into my favorites.

Lisa

-- I inherited the woodworking gene and it's gone into overdrive.......

David, that is a pretty good system that you have worked out for the vacuum press. It looks like it works pretty well.

Very ingenious.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

heres the results , the epoxy is above the surface of the inlay ,
it cane up through the joints .
this tells me that the inlay is down flat and even .and not all hill and dale lumpy ,
so sanding will be even .

and as much as i want to start now ,
i think that i will split firewood today ,
i just found my hair dryer !
stay tuned …............

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

David: A very useful and inexpensive vacuum bag.

Some great engineering went into the design. Nice job there.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Are you a genius or what! It is amazing what we can learn on this site

Thanks David

-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!

do you think something like this would work with as a regular veneer press? How much strain does it put on the vacuum? Would I want to use my good shop vac to do this or maybe get a cheap 5 gallon for this? So many questions…...

-- If you can't build it, code it. If you can't code it, build it. But always ALWAYS take a picture.

Nice work. I have always wondered why vacuum bag systems cost so much money…it has always seemed to me that you should be able to produce nearly the same results for much less money.

This brings another question to mind. (Newbie – please forgive me) If vacuum bags creating less than 20 psi is sufficient to create a good glue bond, why does everyone torque their clamps down so tight?? They have to be creating hundreds of pounds per square inch.

-- James - What's your excuse this time??

Pure genius, or very poor, or both! :) Now where are my wife’s storage bags…

-- Rich in Richmond

karson – thanks for the thumbs up , it’s good to see im getting thru to the youngsters here !
kent – thats debatable ,i did read 2 of stephen hawkings books , and will say that i agree with only half of his thoughts , the questions !
i can’t make heads or tails out of his answers .
pictureboy – not having much experience in veneering , i wonder if the bubble wrap might leave mini-craters in the work ? i would try it out on some scraps first with and without the bubble wrap first . i ran my vacuum for about 2 hours , and it didn’t get hot . so i let it go on till the glue turned to honey and held on it’s own , i was going to make a check valve for the pickup , but the nozzle was a tight fit and i mixed my first batch of glue to strong , and had to hump to get things aligned quickly , so i didn’t get to it . i was going to cut a innertube rubber and just spot glue it once to the adapter top , thinking i could unhook the vacuum and the flap would seal the bag . i still think it would work , just have to wait for next time .
wanut – probably because it’s better to be safe , than sorry ?
if one turn is good , then 20 is probably better ( huh ) !
must come from all the fear stuff we are taught !

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

By the way Patron – Beautiful work!!

-- James - What's your excuse this time??

I can tell you were humping BIG TIME. I bet the sweat was flying.
Are there are reasons for concern for the last quarter or is the glue ooze within the tolerance?
When I do mine
I wanta know if it’s fine

-- Ain't better or worse than any other woodpecker in the woods.

Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t steal your idea, I would just use it when I steel dustbunny’s.

-- Ain't better or worse than any other woodpecker in the woods.

have away !
because of the backstops ,
the last quarter is also trapped .

i will rout the top to round to the point tips ,
the but ends don’t matter ,
as there is plenty there ,
and leave a tongue from the top as a fin for the border dadoes to fit to.
just use slow glue , as it takes some finessing ,
and you want a fine notched spreader ,
so the glue doesn’t ” float ” the pieces .

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

Thanks, truly kick azz

-- Ain't better or worse than any other woodpecker in the woods.

The glue looks a lot easier to knock down than when I wax paper, flat board, and add weight.

-- Ain't better or worse than any other woodpecker in the woods.

im sanding right now , that epoxy is HARD man !

might be easier to do what i did with the first one ,
i had apiece of ply big enough to cover the whole thing ,
and then the vacuumit , the glue didn’t seep through ,
so i didn’t have to sand so much ,
but it was pine and alder so was easy to do .
this is HARD wood , so it’s bound to be harder ,
if i had time and money ,
i would take it to a 52” wide belt sander and let them do it ,
then just finish it .

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

you are probably right about the bubble wrap…but I bet I could still do it with a mdf top with lines cut in to let the air around…hmmm…...

-- If you can't build it, code it. If you can't code it, build it. But always ALWAYS take a picture.