re: Vacuum clamps?

Duck and I were chatting on about the GRABO clamps he’s got, and it turns out Izzy Swan has an adapter to make it a remote vacuum pump. It’s self regulating, which is pretty cool, but I think the vacuum it pulls might be a big weak for project clamping…but I don’t know. Then I got into a rabbit hole reading on veneeringsupplies.com about pumps and Venturi kits. Joe from veneeringsepplies.com has a whole vacuum clamp mod that uses one of his veneer vacuum kits, a foot peddle and a product kit called Podz to create a configurable vacuum clamping system that is supposed to be very sturdy.

Of course, everything has a cost. To be All-In with the Venturi, the peddle and the Podz kit is a little over $500. I’ve got a big enough compressor to handle it, and the kit he sells has an automatic feature to shut off airflow when not needed, but turns it back on to refresh the vacuum as needed, so it’s not like the compressor is going to work overtime.

I could see using clamps for some bench work, as well as on the Aux bench for the Shaper Origin. Double sided tape works great, but this would be so much more convenient…especially for non-through cuts. It also opens up using a vacuum pot, which I don’t know that I would do since I haven’t done any silicon mold work. And from what I read a pressure pot would be better for casting epoxy anyway (which I’m more likely to do for blanks and such…but also have not done). I would also be nice to be able to use vacuum bags to veneer if needed of course. 

I don’t know much of anything about it and was hoping some folks here had more hands-on experience this something like it. It’s a tough hole to jump down when I don’t have much need for the parts if the main use doesn’t work out!