Laguna vacuum

[Raif Harik]

Hi I have a 24/36 Laguna. I'm trying to wrap my head around the vacuum chuck thing.
My first question is, if I get this Laguna vacuum thing (for $250 ) will I also need a strong compressor? If so how strong. Or is the thing a compressor its self?
Second question, is this the best system for the price? I know if you buy parts from your auto dealer you pay twice as much. I have already cashed in the kids college fund to get the lathe. I need to save what I can.
Thanks,
Raif

 

[Charles Cadenhead]

Hi Raif, you still need a compressor for it. At $250 it's competitive with the Hold-Fast vacuum system, but the Hold-Fast system doesn't fit your lathe.

 

[Chris Edwards]

I have a 24/36 also. I did not buy the Laguna Inverter Vacuum system, but I did buy the adapter, that is part of the system, that goes on the outboard side of the spindle. Bought is directly off the Laguna website. ($89)

You can attach a hose to it, as with the Laguna system, but use your own vacuum pump.

It's the same part for both the 18/36 and 24/36.

https://lagunatoolstest.com/product...ries/rotary-adapter-for-vacuum-chuck-systems/

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Hi I have a 24/36 Laguna. I'm trying to wrap my head around the vacuum chuck thing.
My first question is, if I get this Laguna vacuum thing (for $250 ) will I also need a strong compressor? If so how strong. Or is the thing a compressor its self?
Second question, is this the best system for the price? I know if you buy parts from your auto dealer you pay twice as much. I have already cashed in the kids college fund to get the lathe. I need to save what I can.
Thanks,
Raif

IMHO, if you are a fairly new turner and do not aspire to doing production bowl and platter turning, you would be better off putting vacuum chucking far far down your want list. You will find that multiple chucks with dedicated jaws to be far more useful. There are several methods for holding objects for reverse turning that are about as fast as vacuum chucking and that require only trivial investment.

 

[Mike Brazeau]

Raif, if you PM me wih your email address, (Start a Conversation), I can send you a PDF of a short Power Point about the use of vacuum in woodturning I put together for our guild's Zoom meeting on May 31. Starts with description of various pumps, hooking up to lathe and other information about chucks etc.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Relying on a vacuum chuck has a learning curve for every new user, you will spend hours on a project to watch it pop off the vacuum chuck and bounce off the ways and floor.
A vacuum chuck has its limitations based on the wood type, wall thickness and wood sealer or finish applied to the piece, this is different on every piece turned. All it takes is
one small tool catch and the work piece will quickly do a dismount and perform a gymnastic move while your butt puckers and your word vocabulary grows exponentially.

 

[Raif Harik]

Well, it seems from this that
a) The Laguna vacuum is pretty good and pretty comparably priced
b) Vacuum chucks are nifty but can be very difficult to use and can cause "butt pucker"ing results.
c) For production purposes they can be very handy because you are producing similar objects with similar qualities so you can basically find the zone then rinse and repeat.

My thought process was that I have difficulty remounting a bowl to finish the bottom. I often seem to get a bit of wobble and I was hopping that a vacuum chuck would help me with that and bring many other wonderful things with it. I am now disabused of this idea and will park the notion till it makes more sense.
That said I would love to see the information that Mr Brazeau has as information is always good.
Thanks folks,
Raif

 

[William Rogers]

I can only say I wish I had my vacuum chuck sooner that I did. You need to understand the limits of vacuum chucking, That doesn’t mean you should avoid it.
I haven’t used Cole jaws since I set up my vacuum. As far as the Laguna, I would buy the adapter (I did), but not the inverter as Chris recommended above. There are an abundance of the small Thompson and art pumps available that are rebuilt. The Thompson model is 2660 and a variety of other numbers that will work. I can’t remember the Gast number. I’m sure Mike B information will cover these pumps. You can make vacuum chucks from PVC (I have a few I made), however I ended up buying the One Way vacuum chucks and love them. Note that the tube supplied with the Laguna adapter fits nicely into the braided tubing.

 

[Karl Best]

What would be the recommended system to go with my PM3620? (I have a small air compressor.)

 

[Dave Landers]

I like my vacuum chuck, use it often for remounting bowls and things to finish the very bottom. It can also be handy for remounting a finished piece that needs fixing or rework. But it is just another tool.

I often seem to get a bit of wobble and I was hopping that a vacuum chuck would help me with that and bring many other wonderful things with it.

A vacuum chuck is no different than any other mounting system when it comes to wobble due to wood movement. It'll still wobble. The main difference is that you have the opportunity spend endless hours trying to center the bowl and eliminate the wobble. But fi it's gonna wobble, it'll still wobble.

What would be the recommended system to go with my PM3620? (I have a small air compressor.)

Don't know about best, but I like the frugal system. It works for me. I like the simplicity and that I can mount the vacuum cups in any of my chucks. I use rubber chucky pvc seals rather than the craft foam that Bob the frugal guy uses. I turn the bases with concentric rings (steps) sized for various jaws, so usually it's pretty quick to mount in whatever chuck I've been using for the bowl. I have several cups of different sizes, and (though I rarely do) I can make other specialty sizes or shapes pretty easily as it just takes a bearing, some tube, and scrap wood.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Unfortunately Bob Leonard is winding down his Frugal Vacuum Chuck business (I believe the pumps have become hard to get).

 

[Mark Jundanian]

I use rubber chucky pvc seals rather than the craft foam that Bob the frugal guy uses.

Dave, did you make your PVC chucks from DWV (like Bob) or schedule 40?

 

[Charles Cadenhead]

Unfortunately Bob Leonard is winding down his Frugal Vacuum Chuck business (I believe the pumps have become hard to get).

I think he is. I looked at buying one of his systems this winter but everything was sold out.

 

[GRJensen]

Dave, did you make your PVC chucks from DWV (like Bob) or schedule 40?

I used schedule 40 PVC along with a set of vacuum seals from Rubber Chucky ( http://www.rubberchucky.com )

 

[Mike Brazeau]

Here are a couple of screen shots from the Power Point I referred to previously. When using PVC or ABS, fittings are preferable over pieces of pipe.

 

[Dave Landers]

Dave, did you make your PVC chucks from DWV (like Bob) or schedule 40?

I use the schedule 40 couplers, which is what the rubber chucky seals fit. Initially I was using the craft foam, but when I got the rubber chucky seals I rebuilt my chucks with the couplers.

 

[Dave Landers]

Unfortunately Bob Leonard is winding down his Frugal Vacuum Chuck business (I believe the pumps have become hard to get).

That is unfortunate, his deals on pumps were pretty good I thought. But the rest of the parts are pretty standard and can mostly be found at your local hardware store or big-box home center.

 

[Tom Gall]

What would be the recommended system to go with my PM3620? (I have a small air compressor.)

I would recommend that you get a dedicated vacuum pump - not a Venturi type using a compressor. Most vac pumps use fractional horsepower motors and are relatively quiet. Even small compressors (except for big $$$ ones) are noisy and use much more electricity. I've been using vacuum chucking since 1994 and it is still my preferred method for remounting and/or repairing. In the past I've had the occasion to have the pump running non-stop for several hours - don't think you would want to do that with a compressor!

 

[Dean]

I like the vacuum chuck, I really think it was the best addition to my lathe the limits are really to stay within the cup size. Light cuts and stay inside the cup size. It is easy to make a bigger cup. I would say frugal is the way to go but as mentioned he is having a hard time sourcing pumps. Defiantly look at his site plenty of information to help you understand.

 

[Gary Beasley]

If you have enough money check out a Gast carbon vane vacuum pump. I got mine used from my old boss, its a 15 cfm and will hold a bowl on the flat chuck backwards. Bug holes dont slow it down much either.

 

[John Miriello]

I have a 24/36 also. I did not buy the Laguna Inverter Vacuum system, but I did buy the adapter, that is part of the system, that goes on the outboard side of the spindle. Bought is directly off the Laguna website. ($89)

You can attach a hose to it, as with the Laguna system, but use your own vacuum pump.

It's the same part for both the 18/36 and 24/36.

https://lagunatoolstest.com/product...ries/rotary-adapter-for-vacuum-chuck-systems/

Chris, I saw your post about the Laguna vacuum adapter and I was thinking about getting it but have a (appears to be stupid) question. If you have the adapter mounted on the head stock, does it interfere with using the knockout rod? Something is telling me that that adapter would have to be removed just to knock out a drive center and that would be an annoyance. Can you enlighten me, please?

 

[GRJensen]

Chris, I saw your post about the Laguna vacuum adapter and I was thinking about getting it but have a (appears to be stupid) question. If you have the adapter mounted on the head stock, does it interfere with using the knockout rod? Something is telling me that that adapter would have to be removed just to knock out a drive center and that would be an annoyance. Can you enlighten me, please?

You are correct.

 

[Chris Edwards]

Correct, you cannot use the knock out rod if the vacuum adaptor is in place. I've not found this to be an issue, but it's easy to take the adaptor off and re-install it, just a couple of wraps of Teflon tape.

 

[John Miriello]

Thank you all. Since I mostly use chucks, I am guessing that it will not be a persistent problem. Just seems to be an odd design. I have never used a vacuum chuck so I guess this would be an issue no matter who the manufacturer. If you block the hole, the rod won't fit. Simple.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

After reading all of these comments about VC's it just reaffirms my decision to not get a vacuum system or Cole jaws. The jam chuck method is quicker, cheaper, more versatile and it works for truing up a tenon on a rough turned bowl or finishing the base of a bowl without any concerns about wood type, thickness or bark/natural edge.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Check out the posting "Poor Man's Reverse Chucking System" in the Tips and Tutorials forum

 

[Tom Gall]

Thank you all. Since I mostly use chucks, I am guessing that it will not be a persistent problem. Just seems to be an odd design. I have never used a vacuum chuck so I guess this would be an issue no matter who the manufacturer. If you block the hole, the rod won't fit. Simple.

Not if you have a rotary adapter that just slides in & out like my decades old homemade one. A similar one with O-rings is available from CSUSA sized for specific lathes. Watch the video to get the idea. They used to have 6-8 options but today only two. You can always adapt the style to a homemade one.

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