I'm in the market for some small (~1" dia), soft vacuum cups with a decent degree of bellows to them (say, 25-50% compression), and having the dickens of a time finding any w/o resorting to industrial supply warehouses. I'm only going to need two or three.
I want to pick CDs off a spindle, so the cups don't need to pull much vacuum, just a few ounces' worth of lift. I'd also like to avoid adding a full-size vac pump or pneumatic source to power venturis -- it just seems like overkill. I've been looking for alternative source of vacuum, but not having much luck. Something like a servo-driven version of "squeeze and release" vacuum cups would work, if that kind of thing exists in this small size. I've also played with the idea of trying to create a sort of servo-driven "vacuum syringe," where I would drive something like a LEGO pneumatic piston with a servo to produce some temporary vacuum (I should only need a few seconds' worth).
Anyone ever see anything like what I'm talking about?