Vacuum Pump Filter Material

[alr]

I have purchased 2nd hand a Vacuum Pump, which I intend to use on a Vacuum Table for machining rubber. The inlet (the sucking pipe) is about 1" dia. and has only a corse mesh filter. I intend to make a better filter for swarf and rubber particles, but am unsure as to what material to use for this filter. The flow is 8ft3/min and vacuum about 7 psi-absolute. I wondered about a nylon scouring pad, but was concerned about any abrasive.

Any site that has information about vacuum pumps would be useful also.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Take a good look at the interior of commercial vacuum cleaners and dust collectors. Pick one, duplicate the shell in heavier material, and use the replacement filter as your prefilter.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Barry1961]

You may want to use a solids filter before your mesh filter if you think you are going to get a lot of debris. You could probably make one fairly easily by piping through a container of some type. If you have an old pressure cooker you could probably just pipe inlet and outlet into opposing quadrants of the lid. A down pipe or deflector shield on inlet side would help by probably would not be necessary too get most of rubber chips.

Barry1961

 

[MintJulep]

A foot-long section of 6 or 8 inch pipe will probably reduce the velocity sufficiently so than anything sizeable will fall out of suspension.

If you are still nervous, a commercially available "Y" strainer with suitably fine mesh will catch whatever is left.

 

[griffengm]

ALR,
Halloran's suggestion is a good one. I might add that if you make the chamber large enough in volume it will act as an accumulator so that when you initially clamp your part the effect will be almost instantaneous. You will not need to wait for the pump to evacuate the lines to get full clamping force.
I assume that you are going to mask around your workpiece to minimize the amount of garbage inhaled by the vac system?
Griffy

 

[DAVIDSTECKER]

You might get some ideas from the cyclone seperators found in wood working dust collector systems.
Check grizzly.com

 

[alr]

Thank you all for your help.
I am cutting to almost a feather edge in places so masking may not be practical.
What is a "Y" strainer.

 

[griffengm]

ALR,
Masking can be as simple as a sheet of paper or aluminum foil. The more "stuff" you can keep out of the system, the less maintenance you will need to do on filters.
One technique I've seen used is to make the mask of something more durable than paper with a pattern of holes to match the part. The part is then placed on the sacrificial board on the vacuum table and machined. This gives the added benefit of keeping the vac table surface free from the divits and gouges that eventually find their way to every production machining clamp.

Griffy