Also interested! Looking forward to learning from people like Hanna.
I’m starting a project that will require quite a bit of silicone degassing. So if anyone’s thinking of pooling some resources together I’m more than happy to pitch in. Been doing some research as to DIY vacuum chambers and such but it gets expensive fast.
I’ve seen some recommendations from the very basic manual setup (for small quantities) and those recommended by silicone manufacturers (Smooth-On) which get quite expensive!
Happy to talk some more!
Cheers!
Bit the bullet and ordered a 1.5 gallon pot with a 3.5cfm vacuum pump. Saw a few videos about the brand and it seems a lot of the issues reviewers complain about tend to be with a misunderstanding of how it works.
I’ll update once I’ve put it together and run some tests.
Definitely a lot cheaper than buying what Smooth-On recommends (8.5cfm pump).
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I’m hoping this is something we can get setup in the shop late fall early winter as the fiber laser moves out. If there are people interested in helping develop the plan for the finishing room, layout ideas are welcome anytime!
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I am just about to pick up the ~$150 set on amazon, the pump and chamber combo that @HannaKessler linked.
Easiest thing I came up with was an Oggi acrylic storage canister with a silicone lid gasket. I pulled off the steel band latch and drilled a hole in the bottom, then got a rubber stopper and drilled a hole in it for a hose barb. Then I’d use it inverted like a bell jar- lid on the bench inverted, put a cup of mixed epoxy, silicone, or urethane I needed to degas on the lid, then set the inverted body on the lid with its silicone seal and covered the hole in the top with the barbed stopped. Since the volume is low, it evacuates really quickly and the rubber stopper and lid will hold in place due to the vacuum. When you want to open it you peel off the stopper and break the vacuum.
I could watch the stuff I’m degassing bubble and make sure it doesn’t boil out of the container (seriously, it can loft up like 3x inside the cup) and then watch the loft collapse as most of the gas bubbles break.
I found the inverted config to be easier because the jar isn’t much bigger than the cup and it was difficult to fish the cup out of the jar if it was used right-side-up
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Cheers! I will take you up on that Eric! I should be ready in about two weeks
Ok, so I finally got to use the little combo I got off of Amazon (3.6 CFM 1-stage pump + 1.5 gallon vacuum pot). It was around $140 + tax. So far I’ve degassed 3 small volumes of silicone to test. No issues at all.
Had seen some reviews on YT and a couple of them mentioned a few tips on setting it up properly and making sure the dial was de-pressurized and given time to settle to the current temp/pressure in your working area before using it.
it reaches its limit quite quickly since it’s a small pot, but it’s more than enough for the volumes I need at a time.
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