Dont drop out on us on your projects, I love seeing the pictures of homebuilt stuff! Foam carbon mast, now that is a _wildly_ interesting project. Also, you never told me how you made the mast track, or did you?


As long as it does the job and is cheap.. Who cares.


Where do you buy stuff like peel ply, vacuum tubing etc?

No intention to drop out. Peel ply well from the dressmaker or from your supplyer of epoxy, glass carbon etc.
Plastic tubing? For the bagging of spars just ask the guy who sell the Peel ply to give you some extra of the "tubes"he uses for packing the stuff he is selling you.
The blue tubing seen in the pic you get from the store where they sell pneumatic stuff (about 50 cent/m)

"There may be a minor leak in the pleats and folds of the bag that is nearly impossible to find. "

Buy a cheap stethoscope, the leak will sound like a freight train. With a little practice you can "see" the leak as the surrounding area will not be pulled down as tightly as the rest.

This is good post to back and read now after the first bagging job.

Ok, so I got a vacuum pump from ebay. An oil rotary thing, label says it pulls full vacuum (0.0001 tor), 2 cubic meters per hour.

Unfortunatelly the motor is 3 phase 380 Volts, 1360RPM. I only have 1 phase 220 Volts connection so I was thinking of replacing the motor with a 220v one. The motor is physically very easy to replace, it has a flexible coupling to the pump shaft and 4 screws securing it to the frame.

Question: what happens if I put a faster motor on it ? Say 2000-3000rpm instead of 1360rpm as the old motor. Will it suck more air per hour (faster) or will it fry the oil and the internals ? Also what type of oil to use with it ?


Thanks guys.
Regards

Problem solved, sold the pump. Got another one.

You are moving fast these days.
Did you find out what oil it was filled with?

Well , did some reading:
you are expected to use only vacuum pump oil for vacuum pumps (imagine that). Unless you are a chemist don't put anything else in there if you care for the life of the tool and the final vacuum level.
Vacuum pump oil is graded for different types of pumps, different speeds and different vacumm levels, so it is tricky business, your manufacturer will supply those.
Also if you're in doubt about the oil you have - if it is yellowish or any other colour - don't use it. The good vacuum pump oil must bea clear/transparent.
Also Shell makes something that appears to be general use vacuum pump oil - SHell Corena V