Sunday, December 30, 2007

Building aids.

One of my early projects has been to put together a vacuum system. I found an old pump in need of repair for the job, but on the advice of a knowledgeable person at work, decided to spend my money towards something that wouldn't immediately malfunction.



I also decided to follow in the steps of Allen, who is building a Farrier 44SC, Sail #1. Instead of searching for the control parts separately, I ordered a kit from Joe Woodworker and enjoyed putting it together.



I used a propane tank as a reservoir and PVC pipe as the sub-reservoir. You can set the pressure at which it cycles to (the highest I could seem to achieve with this automatic on-off was to turn on at 24 and cycle to 27). I also wired in a 'continuous' switch, as the pump is rated for continuous operation. After equilibrating the gauge I seemed to max out at 27.5 to 28 -- not the 29 I paid and hoped for, but it should be good enough. Likely I will run it continuously until the epoxy jells, then leave it on auto for the remainder of the cure.

I also made a fiberglass cart (forgot to take pictures, but I'm sure it will be in the background in the near future). I was naively thinking this would just be a luxury, but after picking up the glass from Jeremy's -- it's a necessity.

I hope to start building after Christmas and the New Year.