Was wondering if anyone has built themselves a vacuum pump before?
I was thinking with a cheap water pump and chiller I should be able to have a nice pump that can hit -28" Mercury, while able to run round the clock. Seems like it would be ideal for my vacuum oven since I can run while I’m away from work and not worry about oil exhaust or contamination.
I noticed some smaller units on Amazon. And I suppose it’s super simple in concept. But are there any variables I need to consider? Does anyone wanna run over some basics in design?
I’ve got 3/4" hose going in. Then I should reduce it before it hits the “chamber”? How far? 1/8"? Then what size do I make the vacuum port?
I was considering playing around with one for fun. I haven’t gotten around to it yet. There is a limit to vac depth, but for a rotary evaporator or solvent recovery and maybe filtering it should work.
I’ve got a few regular vacuum pumps. But my ventilation is a bit annoying, I don’t have opening windows and I don’t wanna cut holes in my wall, so don’t wanna run it while I’m not there. Lest my warehouse fill up with oil smoke mist. I was thinking a diaphragm pump might be good? But $$ still.
I figure the water would take care of the exhaust issues.
Plus… Never having to do an oil change is worth $100s per year.
Yeah it’s a long shot, was hoping for some optimal ratios for design in a liquid system. Doesn’t seem to be a ton of DIY guides on it. Might need to start browsing engineering papers? My physics is worse than my chemistry and that’s not saying much.
