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screen printing => Equipment => DIY - From master engineered marvels to cobbled together jury-rigged or Jerry-built junk! => Topic started by: mimosatexas on September 26, 2014, 12:15:49 PM

Title: DIY rotating air lines?
Post by: mimosatexas on September 26, 2014, 12:15:49 PM
I have been thinking about making vacuum pallets for all 4 arms of my Kruzer, but I am not entirely sure how to make it so the arms can rotate and maintain vacuum on all 4.  I'd imagine ideally it would require some piece like the center rotation thing used for airlocks on presses, but I'm not really sure where to source that, or if the vacuum vs pressurized air would make a difference on the kind of contraption I would need to build.  Anyone have any ideas on where to start on something like this?  Is anyone who prints transfers using something like this on their presses or are you still using adhesive to hold the multicolored transfers in place when rotating to flash?
Title: Re: DIY rotating air lines?
Post by: Frog on September 26, 2014, 12:25:49 PM
I don't know about an easy retro-fit for you, but if I was designing this from scratch, I'd think about using the press arms as  parts of a manifold (not dissimilar to a motorcycle using its frame as an oil sump.) Of course, a similar affect would probably be more easily done with lines running through the arms.

If your vacuum pump could be mounted close to the center of the carousel, it could spin and the lines could be fixed.
Title: Re: DIY rotating air lines?
Post by: mimosatexas on September 26, 2014, 12:30:27 PM
That's an interesting idea about having the vacuum spin instead.  That would be super simple actually...
Title: Re: DIY rotating air lines?
Post by: Binkspot on September 26, 2014, 12:37:44 PM
Deublin rotating unions

http://www.deublin.com/products/rotating-unions/ (http://www.deublin.com/products/rotating-unions/)

McMaster Carr has some off brands just watch when ordering the thread style they offer ORB, seal face and NPT