Vacuum Chamber Degassing Urethane, Silicone, Epoxies Two Part Systems
Thomas Performance Parts Vacuum Chamber 3 Gallon Vacuum Chamber
Please read before purchase
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We have pushed Vacuum Chamber technology to the edge. This allows you to take your products to the next level and set yourself above the rest of the pack.
Why use yesterdays tired and outdated chambers. Your customers demand the best from you. How will you do this without state of the art production?
From our front line designs to our CNC machine shop we offer only the best products in the industry.
Others follow the pack and never ask their customers what they need to be the best.
We are different, our success is guided by our customer’s success.
We are the only company that designs and builds our own parts.
Others use off-the-self parts you can find at most hardware stores. Why buy a product you could build yourself?
Because we are a performance company we are never satisfied with the easy way out. If you want your products to rise above the rest and are never satisfied with people thinking of your work as average.
Join our performance team and push your products to the limit.
We are invested in your success. While other sellers are going backwards in the market we are setting new levels of product quality.
Many sellers’ claim that their products are the best. Their promise is only as good as their research and manufacturing.
Most of our customers are new to vacuum chambers. There are a few factors you should consider before your purchase.
Our research has shown that when you purchase an untested or poorly designed Vacuum Chamber it costs you money, time and personal safety.
Vacuum Chambers work under extreme negative pressure so it is imperative to buy from a trusted manufacturer. When you pull a full vacuum on a 5 Gallon chamber the negative pressure on the lid is 1,665 pounds of force. Something to think about when a seller uses poorly selected materials or drills holes in the lid to mount valves or gauges.
Never Use a Vacuum Chamber that has
What I have seen in the new sellers is they are turning chamber technology back two years. The older sellers know that using Acrylic Lids doesn’t work. The problem is cleaning the lid. Most users clean with Alcohol. This will destroy the Acrylic and lead to implosion. Now I even see sellers threading the lids again. When you pull the vacuum the lid flexes. This will cause the threads to fail and the create leaks. These will be hard to find, as you wouldn’t expect the threads to leak.
Aluminum Chamber: Strong and easy to clean 3/16 inch wall thickness. Solvent and heat resistant. Won’t implode like thin Stainless Steel pots. 9-inch diameter and an 8-inch height give plenty of space for your projects. Degas in any vessel or degas in moulds.
Our Chamber dimensions: 2 Gallon 10 x 6 ½ inches, 3 Gallon 10 x 9 inches, 5 Gallon 12 x 10 ½ inches. This will help you find the size you need for your projects.
MAKROLON® Lid: ½ inch thick see-through Ballistic Grade Polycarbonate. The same material use for bulletproof windows. Built in handles so you don’t have to use the manifold as a handle. The handle edges of our lids are rounded for comfort and safety. We install a one-inch wide Neoprene seal two both sides of the lid. This gives you twice the life of the lid. Won’t shatter like Acrylic lids.
* Please read why we don’t use Acrylic.
Neoprene Seal: We install two one inch wide Neoprene seal using 3M 1357 Scotch Weld. Neoprene has a high chemical solvent resistance. Neoprene has twice the tolerance to heat as Urethane and doesn’t soak up Butane like Silicone.
* Please read why we don’t use Silicone seals.
CNC Delrin Manifold: We use Delrin because it is a superior plastic to machine and thread. It machines like Aluminum providing high tensile strength and dimensional stability with superior resistance to solvents. Manufactured in our CNC machine shop.
Vacuum Gauge: Our gauges calibrate from 0 to –30 Inches of Mercury. We test all of our gauges prior to assembly then the entire unit is tested and because we care about your end product. We include our exclusive instructions on how to calibrate your gauge. This ensures your accuracy and consistency at the altitude you are working at. We don’t use liquid filled gauges.
* Please read why we don’t use liquid filled gauges.
Shut Off Valve: Nickel-plated Ball valves with Teflon seals and Nylon Hose Barbs. We test all of our valves before and after final assembly.
* Please read why we don’t use Brass Hose Barbs.
Vacuum Pump: Our Pumps are 3-6-12 CFM Two Stage 15 Micron. We have tested many pumps and found this model to be superior to all others. Our pumps are shipped with your chamber and setup for easy use.
*Pump isn’t included with this Vacuum Chamber. Please see our Chamber and Pump kits if you require the pump.
* Please read why we don’t use Single Stage Pumps.
Hose: We include a four feet of Amflo hose with our custom shutoff valve.
One fully tested Vacuum Chamber
1: 3 Gallon Chamber, With Mounted Manifold, Gauge, Valve and Vacuum Inlet Port.
1: Vacuum Lid with 2 Lid Seals.
1: 4 Foot 3/8 inch ID Vacuum Hose with shutoff valve.
1: Set User Instructions, Quick Setup Guide, Gauge Altitude Calculation Guide.
First: Will you be degassing a liquid that expels solvents? Examples are stains, glues Urethanes, Epoxies and some paints. Our Polycarbonate lid is far more resistant to solvents than the Acrylic lids. Even simple cleaning products like window cleaners have Alcohol in them. Just Google Alcohol and Arcylic Plastics.
Second: Will this chamber be used for Essential Oils? Remember all parts in a vacuum chamber must be cleaned with Alcohol. Our Polycarbonate Lid and all the parts of our chambers can be cleaned with Alcohol. Acrylic lids can’t be cleaned with Alcohol, it causes stress cracks. Something to think about when the vacuum chamber lid is pulled down with over a Thousand Pounds of force at –30 on the gauge and your face is 18 inches away.
Third: Flat seal verses O-Ring type. Our 1-inch wide flat Neoprene Seal is adhered with 3M 1357 Scotch-Weld cement made just for Neoprene giving a solid connection and ample room to move the lid around and obtain an easy vacuum seal. The O-ring type is 50-75% smaller and is poured into a groove cut into the lid. There is no adhesion other than the Urethane to groove walls. With repeated use the O-ring is compressed and breaks apart from the groove. Remember Urethane isn’t an adhesive. The next point is the groove. It must be cut into the lid deep enough to make room for the seal. Right at the point of greatest pressure the lid is cut and weakened. The seller may say their lid is ¾ inch thick but it’s as thick what’s left where the groove is cut. That’s the pull and pressure point of the lid.
Fourth: Installation of Gauge, Vacuum Inlet and Shut Off Valve. You can see we use a machined Manifold. Polycarbonate and Acrylic are too fragile to hold a thread under the continued lid flexing under vacuum. Consider the depth of the pipe thread 3/100 of and inch. About the thickness of Three Business Cards. Softer materials require coarser threading. This leaves more material to support the pull stress that the screw or pipe puts on the threads. Pipe threading in plastic is usually a one-time use. The heat and tension put on the thread fractures the threads and when the pipe is removed the plastic threading comes with it.
If you think this is all about design and experience your 100% right.
We test each component and final assembled chamber goes through a 24-hour test. This section gives you and understanding of why we chose the components in our chambers.
Vacuum Pumps: This is the most important part of this section. Some people are selling Single stage pumps claiming they work to degas. This is not true and the Manufactures of the pumps say so. The pumps that are being sold were mostly made for the HVAC trade. Single stage pumps will pull a vacuum. They won’t pull what is known as a deep vacuum. The deep vacuum is what removes VOC’s (Butane) and water from your product. We sell pumps that pull to 15 Microns. I work with local Essential Oil processors and they lab test their product. Don’t poison yourself. As you may have noticed we do things a little different. The other guys put the pump shutoff valve on the lid because it’s easy. We put the shutoff valve as close to the pump as possible. Why? When you pull a vacuum the pump gets hot. Since the pump itself is in an oil bath the oil gets hot. If you consider that at a full –29.91 vacuum water boils at -70F. The pump oil has solvents and stabilizers but the older it gets the more contaminated it becomes. When this hot vaporized oil hits the cool shutoff valve and plumbing assembly on the lid it condenses. Where do you think it will go next? My question to you is. Do you want the contaminated oil in the lid or 4 feet away from the lid where it isn’t under vacuum and doesn’t have a chance of getting into your chamber?
Acrylic Plastic in very reactive to solvents like Alcohol. Some user process oil with Alcohol. Other know that in essential oil production you must clean your chamber with a disinfectant to maintain a healthy product. Acrylic can’t be cleaned with Alcohol. Alcohol causes stress cracks that will ultimately lead to catastrophic failure.
Silicone in your processing. If you haven’t heard the producer on silicone-baking sheets that were used for oil production have been changed from Silicone to PTFD ( Teflon ). The Silicone sheet was delaminating from the fiberglass support sheet inside and components from the Silicone were transferred into the oil. Silicone soaks up Butane like a sponge and while it is under vacuum may release chemicals into your oil.
Liquid Filled Gauges: Some seller call them custom liquid filled. The manufacture’s designed these gauges to be used in an environment of quick pressure changes. The liquid is used as a shock absorbing agent. The problem is vacuum chambers don’t have this kind of rapid vacuum change. The real problem is that the liquid makes the gauge very susceptible to altitude and temperature changes. You must acclimate the gauge to your altitude and maintain a stable temperature for the gauge to read accurately. The manufacturer goes to the point of saying “Once mounted remove the gauge plug and don’t move the gauge”. This is why I feel the gauge is not a proper fit for our products.
Brass Hose Barbs: While some people think that Brass is best. Our research has shown Nylon to be superior. Once again Brass works fine when it is not moved. Brass also requires a hose clamp. Nylon doesn’t require a hose clamp and has a better seal that allows you to rotate the connection without leaks.
Threading into Plastic: Some seller’s thread directly into to lid. This is a bad idea on many levels. First Acrylic and Polycarbonate Plastics don’t hold threading. The NPT thread is tapered. When a valve or pipe is installed the threads are crushed to make the seal. The installation also acts like a cork. When torque is applied it pushes out on the threads and hole. When vacuum is applied the lid will be pulled into the chamber with great force creating a stress point. Some seller’s bad design even has the vacuum gauge hole in the center of the lid at its maximum stress point. We use a manifold and backing support plate that spreads the stress load. It is positioned far from the center stress load.
I have included some illustrations to show you why our designs are superior to all other sellers.
I have included a picture to illustrate this design difference.
First: I will address the manifold placement, as this is confusing until you see how moving it can make such a significant change in the Chamber’s use. We do many studies on design and material uses. I came to a conclusion that moving the Manifold to the Chamber was a necessity. When the manifold is in the lid the air blast from relieving the vacuum blows straight down onto the product. If you open too fast the blast flips the product over. Now you have a huge mess.
Second: this is most important. The lid when under vacuum is under as great amount of stress. To put this in perspective a 5 Gallon lid is pulled down with over 1,600 pounds of negative force. The main stress load is concentrated in the center of the lid so drilling holes is not a good option. This is the main cause of lid cracks but the seller won’t tell you this because they don’t have the machinery to mill a Manifold that fit on the Chamber.
Third: The sellers of Stainless Steel Chamber are telling you they are induction ready. First things first. There is no available Induction cook top that can be used for Essential Oil manufacturing. I have one and it has 7 heat ranges they start at 100F. The unit increases temp by 10-degree increments. So start at 100F and next level is 110F one is to low and the next to hot with nothing in between. Worthless but the sellers don’t read the product instructions. They let you learn the hard way by ruining your product.
Next is the implosion problem with Stainless Chambers. The wall thickness on Stainless Steel Chambers .06 Inches or commonly known as 1/16 Inch. To thin to take the inward pressure that a Vacuum Chamber has to withstand. Aluminum wall thickness is .1875 Inches or 3/16th Inch. This can withstand this crushing pressure with no problems. We have shipped Thousands of Chambers with no Implosions.
Essential oil finishing can’t be done with any Induction Cooking Elements. Even the best Induction Cook Tops have only 7 heat levels. After you set the level the heat increases in 10 Degree increments. Start at 100F your next level is 110F. To low or to high to process Essential Oils. Induction doesn’t act like a hot plate. You can’t just put towels between the top and pot to lower temp. Once the induction coil locks onto the pot there is no way to slow it down.
Stainless Steel Chamber is a thin wall design. The are not built to take an inward load of 14.7 pounds per square inch. Sellers use cheap Steam Table inserts, which are paper-thin. This is why they implode and some seller tells you they will implode but still sell them. They use words like Danger in their product description.
We moved the Manifold to the Chamber Pot. We are still the only seller to use CNC cut Manifolds. Others drill a hole and use a flimsy nut setup. We found that when you drill holes in a flexing lid you invite failure. Holes are the main cause of lid cracks.
I hope this has helped you understand our products. I look forward to earning your trust and business. If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to email.
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