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Session #2: Air Support

A project log for Thermoforming Machine Rebuild

A team of makers work to refurbish an old industrial thermoforming machine

rogerRoger 09/27/2017 at 00:360 Comments

The bottom cabinet of the machine held most of the air equipment. There were two motor driven pumps: a vacuum pump and an air compressor. (Or jokingly: one sucks and the other blows.) They each have an attending accumulator tank. 

It was worrisome to find most of them were hooked up to external connectors. It's possible the machinery were broken or unreliable and compressed air+vacuum had to be fed externally. But it's also possible a previous owner just wanted to reduce noise and vibration and that's why they hooked up the external lines. Or maybe even the reverse direction: the compressed air and vacuum generated by the machine might have been plumbed to be used elsewhere in the shop.

No way for us to know now, all we can do is test the machines to see how they do!

A brief test of the vacuum pump managed to pull 26 inches of Mercury, which is good enough as a starting point.

The air compressor also got a brief test and managed 40 psi, which was not promising. Fortunately, a disassembly and cleaning was enough to restore it to 100 psi level of performance.

The air and vacuum lines are relatively inexpensive to replace and plans are to do so. The electrically controlled air valves are more expensive and will have to be tested. The two air cylinders got a quick test in the previous session and they (1) move and (2) are not hissing like they have leaks. A great place to start.

There are two accumulator tanks - one for the compressor and one for vacuum - they are question marks.

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