[Milsurplus] DIY Vacuum Chamber

[Facility 406]

Was looking at this...

https://reversopumps.com/gauge-vacuum-reverso/

-30in of mercury, so, I'm guessing -15psi, the opposite of what the 
gauge shows on the psi side.

Seeing as even at hobbyist levels I could pull a lot more inches of 
mercury, my smallest piston/actuator is something like 500#, and was 
looking at 28, 37, and 40 ton equipment this afternoon, what is it then, 
or do we just call it a hard vacuum at 0psi with a few tens of tons left 
to go?

Wondering how much a vacuum 200' of water in a 1.25" pipe would equate 
to, when sucked from the top, to within one foot of the surface.  Found 
a chart that says the water is 0.53# per foot.  Looks like it would be a 
vacuum of -106#.  Take 15 from that, of the atmosphere pushing down, and 
it's 91# pulling down on that 12" space.

I'm guessing there'd still be plenty of air in there, despite that, and 
it's something I can play with, using my well.

Maybe the problem is in the terminology, rather than how much something 
can pull on an actual space, and once the air in the space hits nothing, 
then we just have lifting, or implosion issues left, as we continue 
drawing toward infinity.

I did implode one cylinder years ago.  About 1" across, and I'd guess 
about 50# of pull, at which point is wasn't a vacuum so much, as the 
whole scenario just sucked, pun intended.

Kurt