Replies

1. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Sep 05, 2007 02:22am | #1

   I built a top-loader, but eventually trash-canned it.  It was convenient to use, but a bear to store.   It was big enough to veneer a 4x8 sheet of plywood.   That meant it was nearly 5 feet by nearly 9 feet.   That's a big object to store.  In contrast, a 5x9 bag rolls up into a much smaller bundle -- one that can store up in the rafters, or high on a wall, or wherever.    If I had a shop with unlimited space, and/or if I were doing veneering every day, the top-loader would make more sense than a bag. 

1. 
   g_hepplewhite | Sep 05, 2007 03:59pm | #2

   Jamie,

   How did you fabricate the frame and what did you use to seal the frame to the table? I have set aside room in my shop for a dedicated press that will be out of the way of my bench and machine work, so I am lucky in that respect. This is my forth shop and the only one that was purpose built (my other ones were garages and basements)

   Thanks,

   Tom   

1. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Sep 05, 2007 05:32pm | #3

   The bottom was a torsion box, covered with 20 mil sheet vinyl.   I originally hoped that the melamine surface of the torsion box would be airproof enough, but it turned out to leak like a sieve.   The frame for the top was 2x4s with the 4 dimension vertical.  The top's 20 mil vinyl was just large enough to wrap up the outside and be captured to the 2x4s by duct tape.  The seal was foam-rubber weatherstripping, stuck to the underside of the upper vinyl.   It was something like 3/8"x3/4" cross-section, with peel-and-stick adhesive on one face.   It was called closed-cell foam.   It came from the local borg.   The top was held to the torsion box with a raft of woodworkers clamps.   In operation, the torsion box sat on sawhorses, and the tent was suspended from the shop rafters with a pulley arrangement, so I could drop it quickly on to the torsion box.

   With that long of a seal, there's more leakage than in a bag of the same size.   I have a 5 cfm vacuum pump, and it would run pretty much continuously.

   Edited 9/5/2007 10:34 am ET by Jamie_Buxton

1. 
   g_hepplewhite | Sep 05, 2007 06:31pm | #4

   Thanks