Vacuum Bagging System

[AKPilot]

Does anyone know of a good, hobby type, vacuum bagging system that can accomodate things up to about 36" or so?

Is there something like this in a local store; Wally-world, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.?

 

[2muchstuff]

Does anyone know of a good, hobby type, vacuum bagging system that can accomodate things up to about 36" or so?

Is there something like this in a local store; Wally-world, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.?

What diameter? The Food-saver products can be purchased as a long roll that you seal as you need, so the length is unlimited. I know of several folks that have used that as a starter system and it works ok.

It does get expensive though if you use peel ply, breather and release.

I've also seen the heat shrink tape method used in a curing oven made of insulating board and a heat lamp with a thermostat. I made a 'curing oven' with insulating board and a high wattage bulb with a dimmer to control the temp. I even bought the 3 DVD set from Shadow Aero that really demonstrates how to do all kinds of cool stuff.

It's easiest to learn if you can find someone that already knows the ropes and can show you how it's done. It's not hard, but there are some tricks that make the whole process easier. A good site for material is:

https://www.mrfiberglass.com/vacuum_bagging.html

To me, it seems like a lot of work unless you really have a need for the results. I've always been attracted to the technique, but it can be pretty expensive to get started and requires a bit of practice before you should start on major projects.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.


tms

 

[mjennings]

Troy it is not that hard, but I learned from guys in the aircraft maintenance dept at school and thus used peel-ply etc, which I know is not cheap.
How much vacuum do you want to pull?
If you wanted to try quick and dirty some heavy duty yard bags, some double stick tape (think about duct tape stickiness) and a vacuum might get you there. I'd make a balloon out of the bag and tape, fill it with air and see if it holds pressure for as long as your cure time. If it'll hold positive pressure it should hold negative. I haven't tried this but I think it would work.

 

[WillMarchant]

There are a bunch of threads about this over on the rocketgliders Yahoo group. Mostly advice about bagging winds for the Aerotech Phoenix. Anyway, the EZ-Vac from https://www.acpsales.com/ is what I got. Haven't had a chance to play with it yet...

 

[AKPilot]

Was walking through Wally-world this morning and see that Ziploc has a new, low price, vacuum bagging system (battery operated). It's a small battery operated pump that fits quart and gallon size bags for freezer applictions.

The pump itself is around $3.50, for the battery operated one. For the bags, similar price.

I wonder how that'd work for LPR/MPR stuff?

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Go to US Composites and you can find everything you need including a nifty book on the process.

The Ziploc vacuum pump cannot pull anywhere near enough vacuum.

However - it is a great way to store parachutes! I fold them up, vacuum them down and put them in a travel bag. You would be amazed how may you can store that way!

 

[stantonjtroy]

This may be a little more than you were looking for but check out this link; https://www.fibreglast.com/showproducts-category-Vacuum+Pumps-172.html
They have two vacuume generators that you can plug into most any compressor. I use these guys for all my Vac/ composite supplies. FWIW

Troy

 

[..Pat Butler]

I have the Auto-Vac system from ACP and like it very much. I was going to build my own system from scratch but it's difficult buying some of the small parts online and getting everything to work together. I especially like the vacuum switch that automaticalliy turns the pump on and off as needed. I can't imagine having a system without that automatic feature.

The one thing I didn't notice when I bought this system is that it is only rated at 18hg rather than a full vacuum. I spent too much time tweaking everything and looking for leaks when the pump wouldn't go much above about 15hg.