🚀 go-pugleaf

> I am ignorant of the specifics of vacuum bagging.  I assume it involves 
> placing a casting of fiberglass lay-up into a bag and sucking the air out -
> along with air bubbles in the resin.  But what is the set up?
>  
> Are there any good overview, how-to and build-your-own articles on the topic?
>  
> - Roger

Don'k know about books...

Just take a used fridge, cut & unscrew off the compressor (you
might go to ask some place where they handle 'problem'-waste,
as you propably dont want to let the CFC out to atmosfere
(sp?). The compressor is a black thing about the size of a
football. By its side it has a small box, which is the switch
to turn the compressor off and on. The AC cabel runs into the
box, as well as a cable from a thermostat. Opening the box,
you should find three pins goind into the compressor itself.
Remove all exceccive, and connect the AC cable to these three
pins. One is ground, and the other two are the power leads.

Plug in, and go to change the fuse :-)

Seriously, there are not very many ways to connect the leads,
so trial and error -method and a box of fuses should work. BUT
BE VERY CAREFUL, AND ONCE YOU GET THE COMPRESSOR RUNNING,
CHECK THAT IT IS GROUNDED, IE. HAS NO VOLTAGE. NO PLAYING WITH
AC!

If you get the comp running, it chould suck from one tube and
blow from the other. Now just connect the vacuum bag to the
sucking tube. You can check the amount of pressure by checking
how much air the comp blows from the tube. One comp can only
suck to about 0.5 atm, so you can let it run until it blows no
air out. At this point STOP THE COMP, as it heats up rapidly
if no air flows through it. But be prepared to start it again
with 15 to 30 min intervals, depending on how tight the vac.
bag is.

Further improvements could be a vacuum tank (from truck
brake-air bottle), a pressure meter, and even a
pressure-activated on-off switch.

Last word of warning: NEVER LET THIS KIND OF COMPRESSOR RUN
WITHOUT OBSERVATION, AS IT MIGHT EASILY CAUSE ELECTRIC SHORTS
AND FIRE. But it works, and is cheap.

-Tapio Linkosalo-