Recommendation? Stabilizing scales with vet medical aspirator

K

kenuto

Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
10
Greetings,
Is this a stupid idea, or what? I was given this machine and thought it might work on small items.
(I was unable to add photo)
 
If I understand what you’re asking, then I think it might work but it depends on how close to a true vaccum it can create. If it’s close to vaccum tight then I imagine it should work fine to stabilize scales, make micarta, etc.
 
I would assume the performance would be directly related to the "vet medical aspirator" pressure specification, the viscosity of the epoxy being used as a stabilizer, and the density of the wood.

In general terms, I would say no because I would guess the pressure would be something less than one bar.
(Example: Suction unit · Flow: 30 l / min · Pressure: 0.8 bar · Suction pressure: 600 mm Hg)
Specs from this link: https://www.manomedical.com/en/cabinet-equipment/suction-unit

Here is a link to a thread you may wish to review on the subject:

Recommendation? - Wood stabilizing under pressure

Hello, I am trying to stabilize wood with epoxy resin in vacuum chamber. Unfortunately vacuum is not enough, it is not working for harder woods... so I wanna try to forced resin by pressure -> firstly vacuum stabilization, wood is completely submerged in resin and after that pressure -> pushes...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
very solid practical advise from a Maker and a chemist in the thread Spey referenced! :thumbsup:
Pressure chambers are interesting for this application but advice boils down to - the pros use 1000 PSI in their stabilizing processes, which is problematic for most folks-

OP, Your vacuum / aspirator has a vacuum range spec called out, a gauge, and a high quality pump (spec'd for medical use, and found usefull by at least one guy for stabilizing woods). Build a chamber and valving to your vacuum source and try it. Use some appropriately viscus stabilizer and dried woods rated appropriately for hardness and let us know how it goes. Utube's are your friend, lots of folks are using vacuum to stabilize woods (think pickle /canning and appropriate scheduled PVC chambers, and parts). Let us know how your woods turns out.
 

scottc3 scottc3 ,​

WOW !
Now there is some solid advice.

I remember when Sal released the BushcrafterUK in "Stabilized" Spalted Maple. I knew the/my knife would get some batonning and went with the polished G10. If Sal couldn't get it done ..., I since reserved wood scales for lighter duty applications ;-) Think I remember those "Stabilized" Spalted Maple versions tattooed as seconds with markdowns to the $50 range.

Bottom line, go forth and do/experience the process. I would suggest using a color additive to your resin and doing at least a few test samples and section cut after to see the depth of penetration of the cured resin.

Quick search turned up a nice post on the BushcrafterUK debacle mentioned at this link if interested in the experience Spyderco had with this model:
 
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