What if we take the bottom cylinder of the vacuum chamber and flipped it upside down and used it like a bell-jar on top of a 316L stainless steel blank?
This would take the ASA (rubber) portal count from
7 X 14″, 2 X 27″
to
1 X 14″, 1 X 27″
This would require a custom fabricated blank, so while were are at it let’s add a flange for our turbo-molecular pump, in it’s ideal orientation:
I’m getting quotes on the custom 27″ blank.
Certainly easier to pull the big vacuum, but don’t you need at least a couple of ports?