Understanding 4 Different Types of Vacuum Pump Technology
Ventilation and dust collection are essential aspects of safe and efficient CNC work. Air quality in the shop has an impact on safety, production, and the health of everyone present, and allowing dust or debris to build up can increase the likelihood of fire and slipping while also accelerating machine wear.
Vacuum pumps play a key role in these areas, in addition to providing the suction needed to hold workpieces in place during cutting.
There are four common types of vacuum pump technology to explore when considering what’s best for your shop: claw, Roots, rotary vane, and regenerative blowers. Here is a closer look at each of these four types of vacuum pump technology to help uncover which may be best for your specific working environment.
Claw Vacuum Pump
Claw vacuum pumps, as their name suggests, feature two claw-shaped rotors mounted in a cylinder and moving in opposite directions. The shape of these claw rotors extracts, compresses, and expels the pumped medium when operating.
Claw pumps are relied on for their strength and efficiency in certain applications and provide a high level of performance with a minimal amount of noise. They are considered a safe and durable option, although they also have a tight tolerance and are thus not recommended for use in most dust-filled environments (like CNC shops).
Roots Vacuum Pump
Roots vacuum pumps are a popular option for twin-lobe rotary positive-displacement blowers. They are dry vacuum pumps used together with backing pumps (either rotary vane or dry pumps) in a wide range of applications where high pumping speeds are required.
Roots pumps may be operated at high speeds without mechanical wear and are not oil-sealed, operating contact-free without sealing fluids present in the working chamber.
While claw and Roots vacuum pumps are both commonly used options, rotary vane, and regenerative blowers will deliver better performance within most CNC applications.
Rotary Vane Vacuum Pump
Rotary vane vacuum pumps enable the compression of air inside the pump chamber to create suction for the removal of air molecules from a vessel or area. The design consists of a rotor mounted inside a cylindrical housing and blades mounted inside the rotor that moves in and out due to centrifugal force following the internal surface of the housing.
Rotary vane pumps come in a variety of high-capacity models and can handle varying levels of demand. They tend to have a low noise level and low vibration, in addition to being virtually pulsation-free. These factors combined with their easy maintenance make rotary vane pumps a suitable option for a wide range of CNC applications.
Regenerative Blowers
Regenerative blowers, also known as ring compressors, are used for a wide variety of industrial and CNC applications. These turbo-dynamic vacuum pumps contain a contactless, fast-rotating impeller and are therefore virtually wear- and maintenance-free.
On both sides of the regenerative blower impeller are two ring-shaped side channels along with the housing. The rotating impeller pulls air in through the inlet side, accelerates the air inside the housing, and then discharges it through the outlet side once fully pressurized.
Not sure which vacuum pump technology is best for your shop? A ShopSabre CNC expert is ready and waiting to provide you with personalized, hands-on guidance. Contact us today.
Experience CNC the Way It Was Meant to Be with ShopSabre
You cannot cut what you cannot hold down, which is why we’ve developed and perfected HiFlow technology the most advanced vacuum tabletop in the industry. We took time to engineer this system to ensure flow is as even as possible while also allowing for gasketing if preferred.
ShopSabres industry-best and American-made CNC routers, plasmas, and accessories leverage air-cooled spindles and are designed to help both shop owners and hobbyists grow their production through unmatched precision, repeatability, and automation all at an affordable price.
Our machines are easy to purchase, set up, and operate, even without any formal training. Our team of dedicated experts offers one-on-one support to help you find the right machine and to make sure it works the way you and your business need it to both on day one and on day 1,000.
Here are a few of the reasons ShopSabre can develop and produce such revolutionary CNC technology at an affordable price point:
- Experienced and dedicated in-house engineering talent.
- The ability to fully fabricate and test designs onsite at our state-of-the-art facility.
- The ability to place designs straight into production right here in-house.
Shop our unmatched collection of CNC routers and CNC plasmas today to experience CNC the way it was meant to be.