It works fine with a small O ring to stop vac leaks. My idea was to have the presser mounted on a sliding bar, 3mm chromed rod from a cd rom, press it down manually at whatever level of vac I wanted and then engage the seal button. Initially the silicone seal bar for the element pressed too hard and sealed the bag as soon as it was put in the chamber, under vac it would inflate like a balloon, the solution was to clamp the element after vacuum was completed, how the commercial version does that is unknown to me. Next, some simple maths yielded a volume of 32ml and I used black auto silicone sealer which was firmer, it released fine and I was pleased with the end result. I tried a 2 pass method because I didn't know how much it would take and was worried I would need another tube halfway. I first used the red auto gasket high temp silicone but it was too soft and deformed too much under vacuum.
I used epoxy release agent, needed about 3 coats but the silicone released with no problems. I used 15mm thick perspex for the lid with a custom seal that was poured in a 6mm x 5mm groove routed in a piece of mdf. My unit is easily repaired by me, spares for the pump and sealer are available and having built the unit, I have the skills to repair it too. While shopping at the Cape Town agents for the Vala machines, I had a look in their repair section and saw a DZ620 with a fractured 20mm thick domed lid, probably an expensive replace, which brings me to another point. To put it into perspective one needs to compare it to the price of a commercial unit, the Vala DZ300 costs 15000, I dont know if a DZ 200 version is made, but Im guessing it might retail in the 9999 area, so my home made unit is roughly 4 x cheaper. HB156Upgraded Vacuum Sealing SystemUpgraded sealing technology adopts Inverter constant temperature for sealing stability and efficiency. I have even vac'd and resealed a foil type coffee beans bag, mylar plastic I believe.īonus feature of using a chamber vac is that the plastic bags are much cheaper than the embossed ones.įinal cost was 2500 ZAR (South African rands).
Some folk have found work arounds using smooth plastic bags on a channel vac, like straws or strips of shower sponges (bunched up nylon net), but the finished product looks like a dogs breakfast and leaves much to be desired.Įnter the chamber type vacuum sealer, it has none of the drawbacks of the channel vacs and can use any smooth plastic bag that the heat element is capable of sealing. There are expensive versions like the VacMaster PRO350, but by and large they are restricted to the embossed pattern type plastic bags. Most of you are familiar with the food saver vacuum sealers, technically a channel vac sealer as shown in the second photo.