Vacuum Molding

Started by WaddWatsonEllis, May 18, 2012, 09:34:01 AM

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WaddWatsonEllis

#20
June 24, 2012, 08:46:16 PM
Bugscffle,

Offhand I don't know ... my friend already had a setup for vacuuming wood, and I just used his stuff ... never even thought to ask him of settings .... but I checked You Tube and came up with this site:

My moniker is my great grandfather's name. He served with the 2nd Florida Mounted Regiment in the Civil War. Afterward, he came home, packed his wife into a wagon, and was one of the first NorteAmericanos on the Frio River southwest of San Antonio ..... Kinda where present day Dilley is ...

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." John Wayne
NCOWS #3403

Slowhand Bob

#21
June 25, 2012, 07:48:32 AM
I have seen a few fokes claim to have done some slight molding with a sandwich bagger machine but the most common ones I have seen talked about on other sites have used something similar to the two pumps sold by Harbour Freight, with the cheapest being the most common.  I actually bout one of the pumps before finding some good rubber for pressing and just didnt go any further.  Looking at some of the photos I get the impression :D that the impression is less deep than my method and both require hand modelling for that extremely tight look. 

WaddWatsonEllis

#22
June 25, 2012, 11:15:18 AM
BB,

I would probably have better luck if I had boned the holster while in the mold. But I am very pleased with the results other than the pitting: next time I will use a 'blue gun'!

The idea was to take a commercial new holster and make it look like it had been through the Civil War ... and I fullfilled my task ...

But I was lucky enough to have a retired engineer who loaned me everything but the vacuum bag ... so he went through all the R & D pain and expense and I just used his 'stuff' ... and since it was his 'stuff' I let him do it and just got the results ...

My moniker is my great grandfather's name. He served with the 2nd Florida Mounted Regiment in the Civil War. Afterward, he came home, packed his wife into a wagon, and was one of the first NorteAmericanos on the Frio River southwest of San Antonio ..... Kinda where present day Dilley is ...

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." John Wayne
NCOWS #3403

Bugscuffle

#23
June 25, 2012, 03:43:23 PM
O.K. The pump needs to be something in between "will put a hicky on your neck" to "will suck the chrome off of a trailer hitch". I know where to find the second kind, but I'm not too sure she can hold her breath that long. Now what other things does this system need? Do you need some kind of check valve or one way valve to prevent air leaking back into the bag through the pump and fixtures? Do you need some kind of regulator to maintain the vaccuum? Can you give it too much vaccuum? It seems that the performance of the system may depend on the thickness of the bag material. Is this true? If so, how much thickness is too much?
I will no longer respond to the rants of the small minded that want to sling mud rather than discuss in an adult manner.

WaddWatsonEllis

#24
June 27, 2012, 12:26:58 AM
Okay,

I just got an email back from my friend, and according to him;

All the general information is on: http://www.joewoodworker.com/

The working pressure of pumps need only be 3-5 CFM; that your pump shold be able to do 25 MM of Mercury.

He got his tank at Harbor Freght

He doesn't mention a valve, but on less expensive pumps without guages to set, I would think a inline valve would be necessary.
That way you could shut off the pump after it has reached the vacuum desired, and if the guage were down line of the valve, one could monitor the vacuum and turn the valve and pump on if the vacuum reached below standard... but that is just my guess ... I would check in JoeWoodworker.com ...

TTFN

My moniker is my great grandfather's name. He served with the 2nd Florida Mounted Regiment in the Civil War. Afterward, he came home, packed his wife into a wagon, and was one of the first NorteAmericanos on the Frio River southwest of San Antonio ..... Kinda where present day Dilley is ...

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." John Wayne
NCOWS #3403

daddyeaux

#25
July 04, 2012, 09:02:22 AM
Just a note. Vacuum pumps are rated by the cfm of air they will pull. The higher the cfm the quicker they will reach maximum vacuum which will be 28 inches of vacuum. The pump I got from Northern Tools is rated at 2.5 cfm. A 5 cfm is on the high end and will pull the vacuum quicker. Both will reach the 28 inches of vacuum just not at the same time, but we are only talking about a minute or two between the two pumps.

WaddWatsonEllis

#26
July 04, 2012, 09:49:20 AM
Thanks Daddyeaux,

I wanted to get my holster to look like it had been ridden hard and put away wet ... litterally.

As a Confederate cavalryman, I would have ridden through rain and the southern vicissitudes of weather ... an I wanted a holster that looked like it had lived the life ...


I had a an acquaintance through SAW (the Sacramento Area Woodworkers) who had already been through all the R & D blues of building a working system. He has given classes to SAW that I have taken ...

So at his request I bought my own 4' X 4' bag, used his system and vacuumed away ... I figured anything that would mold a veneer to a piece of wood would have the vacuum to do what I wanted. I let is sit for 24 Hours (again working with woodworking values ... I probably only needed to vacuum it for 3 hours at most. I should have taken pics and measured the vacuum and stuff, but didn't.

The pic below shows the holster on it's belt ... again I bought the buckle and made the belt, using vinagaroon to stain it. The D handled Bowie was from David Carrico, and has had the horsehide outer layer of the sheath replaced with vinagarooned leather, applied and sewn wet from the vinagaroon staining so that it would shrink to the wooden scabbard .... the process seemed to work well; the leather shrank to be seamless along the wooden scabbard  ....

My moniker is my great grandfather's name. He served with the 2nd Florida Mounted Regiment in the Civil War. Afterward, he came home, packed his wife into a wagon, and was one of the first NorteAmericanos on the Frio River southwest of San Antonio ..... Kinda where present day Dilley is ...

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." John Wayne
NCOWS #3403

daddyeaux

#27
July 23, 2012, 08:05:44 PM
That is one fine looking rig you got there. I need to get back on my system and tweak it out to work better. Very nice work..

WaddWatsonEllis

#28
July 23, 2012, 11:39:20 PM
Daddyeaux,

The thing that makes it fun is that, excepting the Min-wax, all the technology that I used is old school and was available back in the 1850s ... well excepting the Vacuum molding and Min-wax .... and they just kinda 'speeded up' processes that would have happened in the course of time anyway ...

TTFN,
My moniker is my great grandfather's name. He served with the 2nd Florida Mounted Regiment in the Civil War. Afterward, he came home, packed his wife into a wagon, and was one of the first NorteAmericanos on the Frio River southwest of San Antonio ..... Kinda where present day Dilley is ...

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." John Wayne
NCOWS #3403

Major 2

#29
July 24, 2012, 04:48:11 AM
The Florida Buckle is a nice touch
when planets align...do the deal !

WaddWatsonEllis

#30
July 24, 2012, 08:15:52 AM
Major 2,

Glad you like it ... although I don't have much actual information on his kit, I have tried to emulate what was available to my great grandfather, Wadd Watson Ellis.

Since he signed up in 1862, I am guessing that, as a private with five kids to feed, what he carried was scrounged, 'battlefield donations', and whatever worked ... by the fact that he survived the charnel of our 'Civil War', I am guessing that he carried the best that he could ...

The belt buckle would definitely have been handed down from other troops. From what I could read on it, it was issued early in the War and due to being mistaken for a similar Texas buckle (that used a five pointed star rather than a six pointed one), was discontinued ....

And that is the rest of my meager story ....

TTFN,
My moniker is my great grandfather's name. He served with the 2nd Florida Mounted Regiment in the Civil War. Afterward, he came home, packed his wife into a wagon, and was one of the first NorteAmericanos on the Frio River southwest of San Antonio ..... Kinda where present day Dilley is ...

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." John Wayne
NCOWS #3403

KidTerico

#31
July 24, 2012, 10:45:48 AM
WWE it turned out really NICE. KT
Cheer up things could be worse, sure enough I cheered up and they got worse.

WaddWatsonEllis

#32
July 24, 2012, 11:04:37 AM
KT et al,


Thanks!

One of our reenactors is a camera buff, and once I get the Maynard delivered, has promised to do a whole portfolio of pics in my Confederate duds ...

I am really looking forward to it (both receiving the Maynard an showing off the pics) and will post the best of them on this site ...
My moniker is my great grandfather's name. He served with the 2nd Florida Mounted Regiment in the Civil War. Afterward, he came home, packed his wife into a wagon, and was one of the first NorteAmericanos on the Frio River southwest of San Antonio ..... Kinda where present day Dilley is ...

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway." John Wayne
NCOWS #3403
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