Group Repair/Create/Invent Project: Vacuum Coating System
I was going through craigslist and lo and behold, someone was offering a broken vacuum coating system. It's nonfunctional, but for the most part whole. It weighs so much I'm rather surprised not to have an inguinal hernia. There is normally a vacuum chamber on top which is missing/broken. I'm going to try to repair it.
For those who don't know, this is the type of tech used to coat things in very thin biocompatible metals like titanium. Getting it back to functional would allow us to coat custom implants and to test devices being designed without the 2500 or more price tag. I'd like to make the repair/creation/invention of this into a community project and thus be able to provide this service to grinders.
I won't pretend to even know where to begin, but if you'd like to get involved please let me know.
Comments
the company still exists and you may have some luck getting at least the operating manual by simply requesting it http://nrc-industries.com/service/
if you need help with any circuits inside i can assist in reverse engineering based on pictures of the circuit boards/chips.
the vacuum chamber should be a standard lab part, expensive but off the shelf.
I don't think you're going to have a lot of luck restoring 50+ year old equipment.
As far as the dome for the vacuum chamber, is pyrex the only option?
Also, would it be possible to get the circumference of the round metal dish where the dome would go? @Cassox
@chironex How tall are the pyrex domes used on vacuum coaters like that usually?
Hey, I've never gotten around to doing anything with my site yet but it's a great place to park pictures. Click to zoom in on the guts.
about the dome, would a dome with no window work? i mean we can measure stuff like the tiny currents flowing around these days. getting a steel-cylinder shouldn't be exactly difficult if it needs no window. lathe/grind the bottom flat and all you need is a rubber sealing.
i'd vote to disassemble all non-critical parts and give each one a good cleaning and inspection.
and if not. maybe a bit of hacking a steel cylinder would work. like adding a smallish hole and cover it with a piece of suited glas so you can peek inside with a camera. a smallish piece of expensive glass is still a lot cheaper than a full glas dome. can't be the only sollution for the given problem to spend a grand on a piece of glas.