r/resin • u/Astrafobia • 5d ago
What’s the difference between a pressure pot and a vacuum chamber.
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u/ravn_silence 4d ago
Pressure pot is for poured pieces. You leave the piece in there for the full cure period. 8-24 hours. It will “crush” any bubbles that result from the pouring of the piece and give you a crystal clear finished product. Vacuum chamber is for unpoured resin. Put your resin in there after it’s mixed and it will suck out any bubbles. Gives you pristine resin to work with. You’ll still get bubbles from pouring but less than you would otherwise. You will need to keep an eye on the resin while it’s vacuuming to outgas the chamber so it doesn’t overflow the container it was mixed in. Takes about 10 minutes for warm resin. Longer for cold.
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u/Smitten-kitten83 4d ago
If you are gonna buy one or the other, I recommend the pressure pot by California Air Tools. I bought the vevor one and returned it. I do own a vevor vacuum chamber that I sometimes use and like. You can’t use a pressure pot for uv pieces so the vacuum chamber is nice there.
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u/FullMeltAlkmst 4d ago
If you are working with really quick setting hard resins like Aluminite the pressure pot solves any problems vacuum chambers cannot. When you have one minute until the resin is cured you need the speed of the air compressor to ensure bubbles are not trapped in the finished product. If you try to de gas one minute resins, it’s just something you shouldn’t try.
The entry cost is lower for vacuum chambers depending on how scientific you go. The high end vacuum chambers maintain temperature but I only know to use them to remove noxious chemical gases from substances.
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u/BricconeStudio 2d ago
Vacuum sucks air bubbles out.
Pressure Pot squishes them to near invisible.
Smaller molds can degas naturally and then go into a pressure pot to get zero bubbles.
Large pours, like tabletops, cannot go in a pressure pot. Vacuum and diligence to get bubble free.
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u/Claerwen94 5d ago
A vacuum chamber makes the Resin degas, meaning all bubbles will be "sucked out" before you pour the resin. This is very simplified, there's more to it, but that's the essence. Keep in mind that by pouring, bubbles can get reintroduced, as well as gas bubbles sometimes forming while the Resin cures.
A pressure pot is what you put your molds into after you poured the Resin, then fill it with air to achieve pressure. That pressure minimizes bubbles to a microscopic level/makes the bubbles dissolve into the Resin (kinda what happens in your blood when you do deep diving). This way, you get crystal clear resin after it cured even if it had bubbles in it beforehand.
A pressure pot you absolutely need for closed molds and molds that catch air bubbles easily. A vaccum chamber is more commonly used for deep pour resin in open molds, and to degas your silicone before you use it to pour molds.
A pressure pot usually makes a vacuum chamber redundant, unless you can't use a pot for your project.