Vacuum Bagging

Everything that goes between your laminate and your pump. Films and fabrics cut to the yard so one part costs one part's worth, tape and hose by the roll, and the hardware that connects them.

The order a bag goes together: peel ply straight onto the wet laminate, breather over the peel ply so vacuum reaches the whole part instead of just the area near the port, then bagging film over everything sealed to the mold with sealant tape. Add perforated release film between peel ply and breather when you want to bleed resin out for a higher fibre fraction, and leave it out when you want to keep the resin in.

The part most first bags get wrong: there is no way to tell a sealed bag from a leaking bag the pump is keeping up with. They look and feel identical, and the second one lets go mid-cure. A gauge and a shut-off valve on the bag side turn that into a five minute test you run before you mix resin. That is what the Vacuum Control Manifold is for.

Pumps. We do not sell them, on purpose. A good HVAC vacuum pump costs about a hundred dollars and pulls deeper than pumps sold through composites channels for many times that. Buy the one you like. Just note HVAC pumps use 1/4 in SAE flare inlets, so you need a flare-to-barb adapter to meet 3/8 in hose.