Pressure or Vacuum??

[Shedman]

Some help or advice please. I’m keen to try out some wood stabilisation and acrylic projects. I’ve done some without either pressure or vacuum but would like to try out some with! Which, in your opinion do you think is better / easier / more effective / cheaper! to remove any air bubbles. Many thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[Droogs]

From what I've seen of the vacuum process it would be the winner, but it does have a cost outlay. you need to have a decent size airtight container and a decent pump that can pull at least 28Hg of mercury and hold it steady for a long time. if not then it will be running often and can be a pain in the behooky. A 2" square will take 4 days at least under vacuum before it is ready to have the relief valve opend and the resin etc introduced
A lot of the chambers on ebay have been found wanting especially when it comes to the glass/acrylic tops. Then of course you need to have an oven big enough to take your wood , but given all that it does seem to be the way to go to get the best results for a diy system rather than pressure

 

[marcros]

For stabilization, vacuum.

For acrylic, it is handy to have vacuum to degas the mix, then you would use pressure.

You may be able to rig a system that does both from a compressor, depending on how you connect it. I HAVE NEVER DONE IT but I saw it on YouTube.

 

[Shedman]

Thank you