SportAir Workshop

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Looks like, all in, the consumables are around $25-30/yd. The fittings that connect the hose to the bag are about $25. The hose we used is something that would likely cost <$10 at the home center (Menards in my case). ACS has a starter kit for consumables that is $136.95. After further research, it looks like a vacuum pump could easily hit $750+ if you wanted to spend that much.

Scott (instructor) is a full-time composites manufacturer, and he likes Gast equipment (available on Amazon starting at about $480). We didn't use anything near that high-falutin' in class. He recommends a diaphragm pump, and to stay away from the oil piston pumps like those at Harbor Freight because they tend to eject an oily mist during operation. Oil and composites don't mix.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Here’s a quick depiction of a typical vacuum bag setup for creating a composite core panel that we used in class. Item 5, in our case, was a sheet if high-density foam, along with a wet layup of glass on both sides. The point of the exercise was to bond all three pieces tightly together with the vacuum, as well as suck out any excess resin.

[Bcone1381]

Thanks so much Chris.

BTW, for the rest of the Group...Chris' instructor for this weekend workshop, was Scott VanderVeen. The past two years Scott has been doing a series of seminars at throughout the week at AirVenture. He is captivating, not only because he is a good, simplistic, instructor, but he has the Video Demonstrations and makes all this stuff look easy peasy, very doable. He might be my favorite presenter at AirVenture. So, if you are planning to attend in July, look for Scott VanderVeen in the program. I will see you there.