Anybody try the skateboard vac bag kit from Rockit? I have a veneer project coming up and my hands hurt just thinking about all of the clamps. The mid-size bag will take my parts.
I don’t often work in veneer so no plans to gear up with a “real” vac system.
Pros / cons / advice all welcome.
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It's great, I've been using it for 4 or 5 years. I have the smaller bag and the mid-size bag and have used them for dozens of pressings. On one of my bags the black sealing putty was really sticky and I found it very hard to open it cleanly after a pressing. I replaced that putty with an extra roll I had purchased and it separates easy now (maybe it was a bad batch or something). One thing to note is that if you are doing bent laminations in the bags the hand pump lacks some of the oomph you get with an electric one, so if the bends are extreme make sure to do a practice run before gluing to ensure it works.
About a year ago I bought an electric vacuum pump and have been using the bags with that instead of hand pumping, they sell a conversion kit to connect a vacuum pump hose to the bag.
Thanks, I think I'll order one.
Ditto. I used a RoarRocket kit to veneer plywood for Tim Rousseau’s writing desk. Worked great at quite reasonable cost.
Follow up question... I just took my first press out of the bag and the glue is still sticky in spots. I used TB liquid hide glue on 1/16" sapelle veneer in the bag under vac for about 18 hours.. The glue that seeped through the veneer and the squeezout at the edges is tacky.
Is this just because it can't fully dry in the bag? Do I need to worry about delamination as the glue fully hardens?
Hide glue really isn't made for vacuum veneering. But if the veneer is down and you are happy with it, let it finish curing outside the bag.
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