www.TK560.com

[jschlosser]

Hi,

Newbie here.. I just got a 40gallon tank from my neighbor and would like to use that instead of my current shop vac setup.

So how do you hook these tanks up safely and how much of a vaccumm do you need to create?

I was gonna use this to create the vaccuum:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=98076

There are 4 holes on the top of the tank..

1. labled hot
2. labled cold
3. plugged
4. some type of vavle on the top

So what do I need to get that hooked up to my vac chamber?

Thanks for the help!

Schlosser

[ANH trooper]

Hi Schlosser,

On my tank, I just have one pipe plumbed into it. It leads up to a 'T' connector with one pipe going to the pump and the other to the platen. The pump is placed between the platen and tank, and has a gate valve either side of the 'T' connector.

To operate the machine, close off the valve to the platen, open the valve to the tank and switch the pump on to evacuate the tank. When the guage on the tank reaches -28", close the valve and your ready to form. When the hot plastic is on the platen, open the other valve and the vacuum is applied....simple

-Paul.

[jschlosser]

thank you!

so it sounds like I just plug 3 of the 4 holes then huh?

hmm, sounds easy enough.. I can't wait to give it a try then.

that harborfreight pump should work right?

anyone have a good gauge they recommend or where I can get one?

thanks,

schlosser

[ANH trooper]

I think the pump will work, but it may take a while to evacuate all the air from the tank. As a guide, my 10CFM pump takes about 2 minutes to empty my 55 gallon tank, so your will take longer. I am not sure how much vacuum you will get to be honest, best to wait and see when you plumb everything up

I got my guages from ebay. You just need small cheapo types, nothing fancy. I actually have 2 of them. The first is situated coming straight out of the tank to let me know the vacuum inside, and the other straight out of the pump, to let me know how much it's pulling at the platen (when tank is closed after initial pull of the plastic).

Hope that helps

[ahillworks]

To comment on the pump it will work but will take alittle while to vacuum the tank. May want to go on ebay and see if you can at least get a 6 cfm pump or go on Craigslist. You will be surprised what you find on that site. I got mine for 50 bucks on craigslist. Good Luck cant wait to see the machine.

[jschlosser]

[jschlosser]

ok, here a few resized picts of my current setup:





mines a 24x24 table, with a platen of 22x22.

[ANH trooper]

I don't know what you are using as heaters, but the ovens using the nichrome wire, like the TJ ovens, only take a couple of minutes at the most to heat the plastic to forming temperature.

Another thing to note about vacuum tanks is that you don't empty the tank (or should that be fill with air?) when you pull the plastic, so you wouldn't need to start from empty every time you make a pull. My tank guage only drops a few inches of mercury each pull, and I just keep the pump runnng while I open the holding frames to release the plasic which is enough time to bring the gugae back to -28".

I like your lifting mechansim, how the holding frame slides on the raising arm like that. Good idea!

[jschlosser]

I'm using nichrome wire for the oven and it's pulling about 20amps. It takes me about 10 min to get the plastic heated nicely to form.. or maybe a little less if I let it heat up.



i put allumium sheeting all inside my oven to insulate it and so the hardiback would last longer, but I don't think that was a really good idea.

I'm still looking for a vaccuum pump over 3 cfm, but still not luck.. I think the 2.5 will work for me, since it takes me 10 minutes to heat up my 1/16" styrene right now.

[PARATECH1]

When looking for a vacuum guage, you could also check out some of your bigger chain car part places. I got a cool looking one at Pep Boys for around $15.00. It included several types of metel adapters in it for properly sizing it up.

Check the section of the store that has replacement oil guages, water temp guages, voltage meter guages, etc.

[PARATECH1]

Thats a neat little pump from Harbor Freight. I love that store.