# Suggestion for a vacuum filter set-up?



## denim (Apr 4, 2013)

Hello GRF crew,

Does anyone have a vacuum filter with a hand held squeeze type pump they are happy with? If so could you please share the make, model etc with the forum? Also, where you bought it? I have seen there are many different meshes of filter membranes for different size of particulate. Which one do you use/suggest. I am getting to the point where I need to filter yellow platinum powder as seen in Samuel-A's platinum video. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Dennis


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## lazersteve (Apr 25, 2013)

There are several varieties on eBay. You will quickly get tired of the hand pump if you do any amount of filtering. I prefer an table top electric vacuum pump.

Steve


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## rhwhite67 (Apr 27, 2013)

If you want a cheap easy to use vaccume filter set-up go to home depot and get a bucket vac unit and a homer bucket. use pvc fittings to recuce the hose size down to 3/8", attach 3/8" clear rubber /plastic hose to it and then get a filter flask with a 3/8" hose nib on it and use urbanti fast flow filter funnels with standard filter papers or the triangle shaped coffee filters. this unit works great just noisy. But cheap... less than $100 total. Ron


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## butcher (Apr 27, 2013)

rhwhite67,
I am not sure what you are talking about with bucket vac unit and a homer bucket.

What this sounds like to me is a small wet Vac vacuum cleaner, suction reduced down, a tee and valves to control vacuum, by allowing the hose to also suck air through a valve in the tee.
if the motor could handle the fumes it may just work pretty good, a small scrubber system could be installed between Your filtering system and the wet vac in hopes to lengthen the run time of the motor.

I Have thought several times of fixing up a water barrel,or two, sitting on a shelf, having fill valve at the top, and a valved hose fitting on top, and a bib faucet at the bottom to let water out of the barrel,
Fill the barrel with water, close the fill valve, when you need vacuum open the lower valve to drain water from the barrel,if you used two barrels it could flow into the bottom barrel to recycle the water, this creates a vacuum at the top of the barrel, open your vacuum valve fitting to your vacuum system, this would be quieter that the wet vacuum and you would still be able to hear the birds.


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 28, 2013)

butcher said:


> I Have thought several times of fixing up a water barrel,or two, sitting on a shelf, having fill valve at the top, and a valved hose fitting on top, and a bib faucet at the bottom to let water out of the barrel,
> Fill the barrel with water, close the fill valve, when you need vacuum open the lower valve to drain water from the barrel,if you used two barrels it could flow into the bottom barrel to recycle the water, this creates a vacuum at the top of the barrel, open your vacuum valve fitting to your vacuum system, this would be quieter that the wet vacuum and you would still be able to hear the birds.


A Wangensteen suction system.

Dave


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## denim (Apr 28, 2013)

To all who have replied to this post I say Thank You! When I first made the post I did not get any responses for about two weeks so I sent Laser Steve an email and asked where he got the vacuum filter with pump I saw him using in one of his videos. He kindly got back to me with the advice to check ebay. I had already searched ebay using the search term 'vacuum filter' but came up with only results for the paper filters used on traditional wet/dry vacuums like a ShopVac. So I tried using the search term 'vacuum filtration' on ebay and came up with what I believe he was referring to. I ordered this unit http://tinyurl.com/csbcvhw . Steve said he uses the #4 Whatman filter which I found to be a little bit course as it still let some particulate through. Luckily I had ordered along with some #4 filters some #1 filters which work fine if I stack three of them together. I used these to filter some AGCL out of some AUCL and the AUCL came out absolutely clear, and it took very little time- maybe twenty minutes. That is a lot better than two days! For the small scale refining I do this setup works very well. Thanks again everyone for your input. Much appreciated.


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 28, 2013)

I didn't answer the first post because you asked if anyone had a hand held vacuum pump they were happy with. Since I haven't used one for this purpose I couldn't opine.

For those who may look for something like this in the future, you can try an auto parts store or, of course, Harbor Freight. They are used to bleed air out of brake systems on cars. It makes what used to be a 2 person job (one person sitting in the car and pushing and holding the brake pedal, then releasing it when told; one person under the vehicle opening and closing the bleeders) into a 1 person job (one person under the car, removing the bleeder cap and attaching the vacuum pump, pumping until no more air comes out of the lines, then replacing the bleeder caps). Look for brake bleeding tools, brake bleeding kits, etc.

Dave


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## sourdoughjoe (May 4, 2013)

Hi...
I use and compressors from scrapped refrigerators, a freezer compressor would work as well. I scrap a lot of major appliances and recover the Freon and remove the compressor. There are two open copper tubes on the compressor. The larger tube is the vacuum side of the system. Hook the vacuum side of the compressor to your filtering device and plug it in. Most people should be able to find a compressor at appliance shops or scrap yards, pick one up!
Later...Joe!


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## chaseonbase (Jul 26, 2013)

Ive been looking everywhere for a decent setup. I found a guy last night from Avogadro-Lab-Supply.com. got a decent size buchner, 1000mil erlenmeyer, filters and hand pump for 85. So I placed the order. Hope this helps! Also I my self were looking for the same setup that Steve uses. No matter what you type the name is always different. You just gotta play around with the words when you search. Here is a link to one I have found. Most are from China which I personally don't like. Long Way for glass to travel. Here is a link I have included. Ps better unload your pocket book if you want some decent volume. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330948765122?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


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## rickbb (Jul 26, 2013)

I got a Buchner filter kit from an onlince lab supply house and the hand vac was not good. It broke after 3 uses.

I use a hand vac you can get at auto parts stores, it's called a Mighty Vac, used to bleed brake systems in cars. Works really well.


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## etack (Jul 26, 2013)

I get pumps like in one of my older post.

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15368&hilit=+pump

I have two maybe three like (C) $50.00 shipped

Eric

If you want pics let me know I've sold 10+ on the forum to different people.


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## philddreamer (Jul 26, 2013)

I've bought pumps from Eric several months ago. As a matter of fact, I'm using one of them in my new scrubbing line. 

Thanks Eric! 8)


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