Acoustic Guitar Construction

This works great for gluing braces and other stuff - I use a much larger bag, made the same way, for laminating sides.

JoAnn fabric has a sale on '16 ga" clear vinyl - 2 bucks a yard. Some adhesive cement $2. Hose with fitting - 25 feet long, HF for $5.

Cut vinyl about 24" x 54". Fold it to make a bag about 24"x27".

Apply adhesive along 1 of the sides and clamp together. Then take your hose, snip off any fittings on one end, and poke some holes in it, a few inches apart, about 18" total. Stick that end into the unglued side, at the folded end of the bag. Put a good glob of glue where the hose enters the bag, and continue to glue the rest of that side. Clamp. After a couple of hours, unclamp and you should have an airtight bag, with the loose end of the hose read to be attached to your vacuum pump. I use a long hose so that I can stick the pump outside.

Not as elegant as the one Ken Cierp has on his website: http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/vacuumclamp.html

But it is easy and does work The pic is just showing it being clamped for the glue to cure.

That is pretty simple Dave, and pretty cost effective too. I guess the pump is the expensive part heh?
Do you have a pic of something in the bag being clamped?

Kevin

Yeah, the pump cost $105 at HF.
I'll get a pic for you.

edit: here you go. Does not show what a braced top would look like but if I remember I will shoot that process when I get to it.
This produces a lot of vacuum pressure.

Just taped some braces on to show how that looks. There's a 40' radius dish underneath.

How do you know you're getting enough pressure?

Kevin

Experience, consistent squeeze-out, strong vacuum pump. I've made bags before so kinda know what to look for.

It is pretty cool, I must admit.