Vacuum Clamping Bridges

[Daniel P]

I finally made the jump to a vacuum bridge clamp- and I can't imagine going back.

LMII vacuum bridge clamp with a GAST DOA-P707-aa pulling about 25 in of Hg with a good seal. (I also tried it with an older GAST DOA-101 and it worked equally well.) I went to a local Semi-truck repair shop and found some really nice all brass 1/8" NPT to 1/8 tube quick connects that are wonderful. They allow the use of the more flexible 1/8" hose/tube, and look like they should last forever.

With the vacuum pump/clamp I'm able to apply glue, and have it clamped in about 25 seconds - allowing me time to use hot hide glue up to 315g strength—which is way more than I have any need for, but its possible. I've always had success with the standard 162g hide glue from Behlen.







Using a big pillow for vibration damping—need to get some legitimate feet for the little GAST Pump.






You can see a little Instagram video of it in action here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgeLrT4guNZ ... dpetrzelka

[Daniel P]

Ken had posted a great piece about making your own vacuum clamp for bridges here:

DIY Bridge Vacuum Clamp
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=817

[Kevin in California]

Great Daniel, I've used mine once for a classical bridge. I made mine for about $10, and I use a vacuum generator with my air compressor $12 with a coupon at HF. It works great.

[John Link]

Kevin, could you be specific about the $12 vacuum generator for your AC? I can't find anything like that on the HF site. Thanks.

[Daniel P]

John,

Sometimes they are called vacuum generators, as they use compressed air and the venturi effect to generate a vacuum.
This is likely what Kevin has used:
https://www.harborfreight.com/air-vacuu ... 96677.html

With a good compressor they can work well—as long as you have to have adequate psi/cfm.

Air consumption: 4.2 CFM @ 90 PSI
Vacuum level: 28.3 in. of mercury at sea level

I was fortunate to score the GAST pump on *bay for a great deal - and it runs so much more quiet than my big shop compressor. It really sucks.

[Daniel P]

This thing works so well.

Reglued a pyramid bridge for a friend. It started lifting during a really dry week earlier this winter.
Clean removal, and easy-on with hot hide glue.

[Kevin in California]

Yes that is what I bought. It works great. I took the venturi out of the red box. It is noisy but pulls plenty of vacuum.