[andy_con]

Im after some advice regarding a vacuum generator/pump for my cnc milling machine.

I want to be able to machine 5-10mm thick ally plates

I spoke to this company in the UK and they recommended this –

Liquid ring pump LSVU10 | Vacuum Tables UK

its look great and all that but I cant afford that sort of money. There are many vacuum pumps on ebay but im unsure if they are suitable or not. what do I need to look at in order to determine if it will do the job or not?

heres some ive seen on ebay

Robinair RA15601 Cooltech Vacuum Pump 240 / 110v | eBay

Becker Vacuum Pump FK80/2-100T. Ref V2107 | eBay

all thoughts welcome

[ALongGuy]

We have successfully used pumps similar to the Robinair for machining. The flow rate will determine how quickly it will draw down and maintain a vacuum. If your part is not flat to begin with it may leak and not draw a vacuum. The Becker is for larger volumes, like a chamber. We heave a Leybold in our vapor degreaser. When machining your fixture..... keep the channels narrow and shallow (1mm wide x 0.5mm deep) to keep the volume low, so it will draw down faster. Also holes to the central cavity (our fixtures were 2 piece) should be as wide as the slot. Remember the O-ring around the periphery. Hope this helps.

[andy_con]

thanks for you reply, so are you saying both would work?

what sort of flow rate is an acceptable flow rate?

i was going to use a table that required a mat

GR Series | Product Categories | Vacuum Tables UK

We have successfully used pumps similar to the Robinair for machining. The flow rate will determine how quickly it will draw down and maintain a vacuum. If your part is not flat to begin with it may leak and not draw a vacuum. The Becker is for larger volumes, like a chamber. We heave a Leybold in our vapor degreaser. When machining your fixture..... keep the channels narrow and shallow (1mm wide x 0.5mm deep) to keep the volume low, so it will draw down faster. Also holes to the central cavity (our fixtures were 2 piece) should be as wide as the slot. Remember the O-ring around the periphery. Hope this helps.

[ALongGuy]

Both will work. The Becker would be like driving a bus to pick up a postal stamp. Calculate the internal volume of the fixture(table) you want to use and divide by flow rate of pump. It should be about 1/6 of pump flow. If your milling does not penetrate the work piece.... then mat style should work.

[andy_con]

Both will work. The Becker would be like driving a bus to pick up a postal stamp. Calculate the internal volume of the fixture(table) you want to use and divide by flow rate of pump. It should be about 1/6 of pump flow. If your milling does not penetrate the work piece.... then mat style should work.

perfect just the sort of advice I was after.

this is the actual table I was looing at

Vacuum table VT3020 GR | Vacuum Tables UK

I want to machine all the way through, identical to datron in this video

[andy_con]

Both will work. The Becker would be like driving a bus to pick up a postal stamp. Calculate the internal volume of the fixture(table) you want to use and divide by flow rate of pump. It should be about 1/6 of pump flow. If your milling does not penetrate the work piece.... then mat style should work.

if the spec of the table doesn't say internal volume how do I know if this pump will be the right one for machining all the way through ally?

Robinair RA15601 Cooltech Vacuum Pump 240 / 110v | eBay

[andy_con]

heres the spec of the pump

Robinair RA15601 | Advanced Engineering