Vacuum Easel Technical Assistance

I acquired a 16"x22" Nuarc vacuum easel without a pump and wanted to

get the specifications for acquiring a pump and any other details I

would need to get this unit up and functional. I tried contacting

Nuarc and was not able to get a response. Any reason to go new or is

used satisfactory? Any place that you might recommend that may have

such a pump for me?

 

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

I can't be certain, but it seems to me that if you can plumb it in, a canister type vacuum cleaner should do the trick.

As a follow up this this post, I got a late call from a rep at Nu Arc and they were able to inform me that the answer to my question is a function of the specifics of the vacuum frame that can only be answered from the serial number of the frame. Different frames have divergent requirements for pressure for effective use. My apologies.

I have a Nu Arc VFC22 (17 x 22)frame. It uses a GAST0211-V138-G8CX vacuum pump. It really sucks. I mean that in a good way. Little guy pulls about 22" of Mercury with a Gast Vacuum pump. Gast Manufacturing is in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Thanks for the info Joe. I will look into this company shortly for a pump.

Our 35x45" Nuarc vacuum easel uses a GAST Vacuuum pump. <BR><BR>The Vacuum gage on the easel inlet will to to 27.5" Hg when fulled pumped down; with 0 to 20" being in the red; with the Vacuum greater than 20" being on the green portion of the scale. A vacuuum cleaner might work; but these are higher flowrate; with a lower vacuum level in inches of Hg. We actually used an Electrolux Model 30/XXX to test out our model of a larger vacuum <b>frame</b> we built 3 decades ago. The small test model was 24x24" and the full bore vacuum frame 48x96". Thse vacuuum frame's held vertical prints to be exposed by our enlarger. Our current vacuum easel is used to mount prints to foam core; or do giant contact prints. It has a cover glass that gets pulled down against a rubber gasket; by the vacuum pump.<BR><BR>Surplus Gast vacuum pumps are also available surplus; real old office equipment/copiers used them at one time. A smaller pump would be fine for your smaller easel size. Ebay has Gast vaccum pumps too. Real large pumps have a slight glass; with an oiler; and filter jar for crud. None of this gets to the easel; it is a vacuum pump.The surplus Gast vacuum pumps were about 25 bucks; at the TRW radio swap meets In El Segundo, California.

Michael,

 

Someone asked a similar question yesterday on the

alt-photo-process list. I copy my response here.

 

"Two companies that sell vacuum pumps are C&H Sales

Company in Pasadena, California (800-325-9465,

hppt://www.candhsales.com), and Surplus Center in Lincoln, NE

(800-488-3407, no web address). Both have hard copy catalogs

that they will send you on request. A good buy for your size

vacuum frame would be the C&H Stock #PC2050, a Gast oilless

rotary vane compressor that can also be used for vacuum

service, at $39.95,"

 

I use the small Gast pump with a 23X29" Nuarc vacuum easel.

Once you get the pump you will have to connect the wiring to a

cord with a plug and find some tubing that fits both the intake

valve of the pump and your vacuum easel. You might have to use

some type of adaptor to make the connection at both ends but

you should be able to find what you need a a home supply store

like Home Depot or Lowes.

 

 

Sandy King

 

Sandy