Laboratory Vac oven vs Vac Chamber and hot plate

jakethedog99

New Member
Hi everyone, I am going to be doing up a bunch of shatter and wax and am not sure what kind of vacuum purger I should buy. I see the ones that look like a big soup pot with a thick plexiglass lid and attachments
for your pump and gauge attached to the lid. I am also looking at one of the laboratory vacuum ovens but they seem pretty expensive. Are they worth the extra money? I am looking at about 2k for the laboratory type setup
and under $500 for a DIY vac chamber with a 6cfm vac pump and using a convection hot plate for a heat source. Will the $500 setup do just as good a job? Thanks
 

SnapsProvolone

Well-Known Member
They both work, the oven is more suited to larger runs but you can buy many vac chambers and a pump for the same money.
 

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
You need to control the film thickness, the temperature, and the vacuum levels, as well as see what you're doing.

I can do all those in a vacuum chamber with an acrylic lid. Shelves are nice, but unless they are individually heated can only use radiant energy and too many shelves in an oven keeps you from closely observing what you are doing.

No two paddies ever react the same, even if they are split from the same sample, so two paddies in the same oven is a compromise for at least one of them. For the best quality, conditions need to be perfect for a single paddy and adjusted for it as conditions change through the process.

If you are doing large quantities of the same good quality, an oven is more handy, but for primier artisian quality every time, the added features are mostly wasted.
 
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