OK, so I had done some experiments with using acetone + Plexi to stabalize some pen blanks. I have a 2 gal pickle jar, and I just let them sit in the sealed container for a while until they sank. I hadn't had a chance to turn these to see how well it worked, but it seemed to penetrate fairly well. However, I recently picked up a GAST vacuum pump from eBay, and I installed a connector and valve to the jar so I can put a vacuum on the vessel. So now I'm wondering two things:
1) When applying the vacuum to the vessel, the solution bubbles quite a bit initially, then it settles down but continues to bubble while the pump is running. Does that mean it's still pulling air from the wood, or is the pressure just so little that the acetone is actually boiling?
2) Is it safe for the acetone gas/ vapor to run through the pump? I have a drier attached to the inlet, but I want to make sure that the acetone vapor won't destroy/ corrode the pump's internals. I do "flush" the pump afterwards by just letting it run connected to nothing afterwards.
Or course, I'm looking forward to using the pump to do some veneering projects, but blank stabilization is a big reason I bought this thing as well. Are there better solutions to stabilize with? I've heard of using straight poly, but the acetone+plexiglass method seems like it's work better.
Thanks!
1) When applying the vacuum to the vessel, the solution bubbles quite a bit initially, then it settles down but continues to bubble while the pump is running. Does that mean it's still pulling air from the wood, or is the pressure just so little that the acetone is actually boiling?
2) Is it safe for the acetone gas/ vapor to run through the pump? I have a drier attached to the inlet, but I want to make sure that the acetone vapor won't destroy/ corrode the pump's internals. I do "flush" the pump afterwards by just letting it run connected to nothing afterwards.
Or course, I'm looking forward to using the pump to do some veneering projects, but blank stabilization is a big reason I bought this thing as well. Are there better solutions to stabilize with? I've heard of using straight poly, but the acetone+plexiglass method seems like it's work better.
Thanks!
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