Tiny vacuum pump

Does anybody have an idea on how to make a tiny little vacuum pump on the order
of an aquarium pump or so that will draw just a few inches of water? Preferably
110, but I can rig up a 12 volt supply if necessary.

The reason I say this is that I'm getting ready to pack a fairly large number of
bags with used but serviceable engine parts (valves, pistons, etc.) and I'd like
to put each part in a "baggie" (sandwich bag or equivalent) along with a little
preservative oil, and then suck the baggie down with a football needle stuck
into the top closing mechanism just before sealing.

Thoughts?

Jim
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

In rec.aviation.owning Jim Weir wrote:
Does anybody have an idea on how to make a tiny little vacuum pump on the order
of an aquarium pump or so that will draw just a few inches of water? Preferably
110, but I can rig up a 12 volt supply if necessary.

The reason I say this is that I'm getting ready to pack a fairly large number of
bags with used but serviceable engine parts (valves, pistons, etc.) and I'd like
to put each part in a "baggie" (sandwich bag or equivalent) along with a little
preservative oil, and then suck the baggie down with a football needle stuck
into the top closing mechanism just before sealing.

Thoughts?

Jim
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

If it is just the suck that has to be tiny and not the pump, how about
a toilet paper roll and some duct tape to make an adapter to your shop
vac?

--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

Because the pump has to fit on a bench that is already overcrowded. If I was
going to use a shopvac, btw, it would be with a pvc waterpipe fitting glued to a
barbed fitting with plastic tubing. I thought of that and then the hassle for
each part of reaching down to turn the vacuum on for each part you want to seal.

Jim





shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-If it is just the suck that has to be tiny and not the pump, how about
-a toilet paper roll and some duct tape to make an adapter to your shop
-vac?

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

"Jim Weir" wrote in message ...
Does anybody have an idea on how to make a tiny little vacuum pump on the order
of an aquarium pump or so that will draw just a few inches of water? Preferably
110, but I can rig up a 12 volt supply if necessary.

Why don't you just get a foodsaver? (www.foodsaver.com). It will do the
vacuum pack as well as sealing the bag (and you can make arbitrary sized bag
as long as it's narrower than the roll of "bag stock." I've got one in the kitchen.

If that's too pricey for you, then there's always this one $14.94, not sold in stores....

http://www.pump-n-seal.com/

Because Foodsaver requires you to use their special bags. Besides being WAY
overpriced, the bags ain't cheap either. Yeah I knew about pump'n'seal, but
that seems to be a kluge way of doing it. I was looking for elegant.

Jim


"Ron Natalie"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-
-Why don't you just get a foodsaver? (www.foodsaver.com). It will do the
-vacuum pack as well as sealing the bag (and you can make arbitrary sized bag
-as long as it's narrower than the roll of "bag stock." I've got one in the
kitchen.
-
-If that's too pricey for you, then there's always this one $14.94, not sold in
stores....
-
-http://www.pump-n-seal.com/

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

The foodsaver thing we have has a fitting for a small hose that you can hook up to whatever you want - would be just
right for what you are doing...

--
Dan D.



..
"Jim Weir" wrote in message ...
Because Foodsaver requires you to use their special bags. Besides being WAY
overpriced, the bags ain't cheap either. Yeah I knew about pump'n'seal, but
that seems to be a kluge way of doing it. I was looking for elegant.

Jim


"Ron Natalie"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-
-Why don't you just get a foodsaver? (www.foodsaver.com). It will do the
-vacuum pack as well as sealing the bag (and you can make arbitrary sized bag
-as long as it's narrower than the roll of "bag stock." I've got one in the
kitchen.
-
-If that's too pricey for you, then there's always this one $14.94, not sold in
stores....
-
-http://www.pump-n-seal.com/

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Jim

How well do you expect a system to evacuate whatever you use around
the parts and how long do you want the bagged item to stay pristine?

You can kludge a system but may or may not work in the short or long
term for your objectives.

If you bite the bullet and spring for a food saver, their bags can be
reused - we normally make them bigger than required for initial
bagging and then just cut the sealed tip end off and the bags can then
be reused for the next item.

The food saver is debugged and is plug and play without spending any
time designing some kludge. What is your time worth?

And the best

Big John
Pilot ROCAF

Using the food saver you can buy plastic and cut size you want (that
will fit food saver) and make bags (using the food saver to seal each
side before evacuating and sealing the last side.

Start thinking off the wall Jim G

50% Scotch and look for the best and cheapest to do the job.


On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 09:26:50 -0800, Jim Weir wrote:

Because Foodsaver requires you to use their special bags. Besides being WAY
overpriced, the bags ain't cheap either. Yeah I knew about pump'n'seal, but
that seems to be a kluge way of doing it. I was looking for elegant.

Jim


"Ron Natalie"
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-
-Why don't you just get a foodsaver? (www.foodsaver.com). It will do the
-vacuum pack as well as sealing the bag (and you can make arbitrary sized bag
-as long as it's narrower than the roll of "bag stock." I've got one in the
kitchen.
-
-If that's too pricey for you, then there's always this one $14.94, not sold in
stores....
-
-http://www.pump-n-seal.com/

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

In article ,
Jim Weir wrote:
Does anybody have an idea on how to make a tiny little vacuum pump

You just need a surplus dental spit sucker. Perfect for removing air
from the corner of a plastic bag.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

PERFECT. Where do I find one? Are there boneyards for dental equipment?

Jim


(Ben Jackson)
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-In article ,
-Jim Weir wrote:
-Does anybody have an idea on how to make a tiny little vacuum pump
-
-You just need a surplus dental spit sucker. Perfect for removing air
-from the corner of a plastic bag.

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Does anybody have an idea on how to make a tiny little vacuum pump on the order
of an aquarium pump or so that will draw just a few inches of water? Preferably
110, but I can rig up a 12 volt supply if necessary.

The reason I say this is that I'm getting ready to pack a fairly large number of
bags with used but serviceable engine parts (valves, pistons, etc.) and I'd like
to put each part in a "baggie" (sandwich bag or equivalent) along with a little
preservative oil, and then suck the baggie down with a football needle stuck
into the top closing mechanism just before sealing.

Thoughts?

Jim Weir


-Ben Jackson wrote:
-You just need a surplus dental spit sucker. Perfect for removing air
-from the corner of a plastic bag.


PERFECT. Where do I find one? Are there boneyards for dental equipment?

Jim


Jim,

What you want is a Gomco. They make most all the dental/medical suction
equipment. Any of them will consist of the vacuum pump and a glass bell
jar to pull the fluid into. We used these in our portable dental clinics
in the Army.

I did a quick search on Google for "gomco suction used" and the first
hit was for a used machine for $109:
http://websites.medmatrix.com/detail.CFM?LineItemID=630.
The whole list is at:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...o+suction+used

There is another solution to your problem. You said it yourself,
baggies, but not the old kind. They make new ones with a plastic zipper
and they seal absolutely air and water tight, and you can get them in
any size up to 3 ft in size, what are called "game bags" for deer meat,
etc. for your larger engine parts.

With whatever size you put in your part, as much preservative oil as you
want, seal it up, shake the bag to coat the part, then vent the zipper a
bit and flatten the bag out as much as possible and zip the last bit
shut. What little oxygen is in there shouldn't harm your oil-coated
parts. If you really want to got all the O2 out, rent a tank of CO2 or
Nitrogen and crack the valve just enough to blow low-pressure gas into
the bag as you seal it to drive out any room air. Then whatever air is
left inside is inert.

Regards,


David Pincus, DDS
Major, USAR (RET)