This is something that I have been wanting for well over 20 years. The thing in the photos is called a vacuum chamber. And what it does is it removes trapped air from within resins and mold rubbers before they are curred.
So now molds can be bubble free reducing the need for clean up of each casting that comes from it. And castings can now be laid up with greatly reduced air pockets in the surface material. To say that this is a real time saver would be an understatement.
I got the whole piece made for me by someone else. This is about the first time in quite a few years that I have not just built something for myself rather than trust anyone else to do the job right. Understanding that I can not do everything for myself untill they add in that 25th hour to the day it will just have to be something that I will have to deal with. It is not 100% of the way that I would have built it. But then the fella was only going by a crude drawing that I gave him. I would have given it 4 wheels for greater balance and had the lid open a bit differently. But other than that? I have a very functional piece of very needed shop equipment that I did not have to pay a retailer full price for.
Hehe looks like a pressure cooker on steroids to me, sorry, no offence meant, I had no idea what it was until you told me, and I am going to believe you, because that is how I am.