Cleaning/Repairing Edwards E2M5

[Richard Hull]

10 or even 15 microns is about the best one can ever hope for on a used pump. and will perform flawlessly using a diff pump or turbo. Short of a rebuild I would not expect much better. You have done the best that might be expected for a used pump. From my point of view, you are good to go for use in a real fusor. Even with the oil as is, you have a fine pump.

Richard Hull

[Ameen Aydan]

Hello,

Bruce Meagher gave me his gauge to use and test and it’s giving the exact same results. 25 torr and that’s the max. My gauge reads 35 torr so I do need to calibrate slightly. Does anyone know if it is bad if I don''t calibrate? This clearly shows that there is nothing wrong with my gauge.

He did give me an intake flange but it was too big. Does anyone have one the are willing to lend me for a month or two?
These results are still using the Teflon seal. Because I got 13 micron last try then it seems that my problem is the inlet not being secure enough. I doubt that my pump would be doing something wrong if I previously got anything a good result...

An inlet should do the job

Ameen Aydan

[John Futter]

Get rid of the teflon tape
use loctite 569 Hydrulic sealant (thickliquid) or Loctite 290 (superwickin)
Teflon tape is for plumbing of water systems not high vacuum

[Ameen Aydan]

Would JB weld do the same?

[Rex Allers]

Can you give us a pic of what you plan to connect to what?

I love JB Weld for connecting things that have vacuum down to 1 micron or a bit less. But where I have used it is to permanently connect pieces. It is not wise for something threaded you may ever want to unscrew.

Last discussed, I think it was sealing threads. Not a job for JB Weld unless you never want the option to undo it.

Assuming you are still trying to evaluate your pump's capability, give us that pic of how you will connect pump to your gauge.

[Ameen Aydan]

Sorry it's been such a long time but I'm finally back to it!

So I decided that the pump I got was most likely just defective. Though I managed to reach 13 micron at one point, I don't think that's going to happen again....

I would want to repair it but I don't have the patience or time to do such a thing. I would need to get oil and a whole bunch of parts that I'm simply not prepared to spend my time on finding.

Below I have attached pictures of the fitting. I connect my gauge directly to the adapter. That way I get an accurate read out.

I choose to purchase a new pump to see if I get any luck. My new pump seems to have the same issue. On the inside, the seller says that its in perfect condition but the outside is just pretty dirty. In the picture you can see the readout of what I got on the new pump. The best I managed to get was about 90 microns though.

At this point I give up. I have two broken pumps that have put a sizable hole in my pocket so I'm just going to resell them and see what I can get.

Should I just JB weld the adapter to my new pump and see what the reading gives me? I don't imagine doing so will affect the pumps performance. And at this point the pump is done for so this little adjustment wont make a difference in my eyes.

Link to the pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Ameen Aydan

[Rich Feldman]

Go back and read what Richard Hull said.

Why are you saying 25 micron ultimate pressure means the first pump is no good?
Suppose you could get below 10 microns with a brand new pump, and some luck.
Would that make a difference in your fusor project?

[Ameen Aydan]

Hello,

Just updating everyone who might read this thread. I finally just traded the two pumps for an Alcatel 2002. It works perfectly fine, reaches 5 microns on the gauge and has very minimal noise. I got those two pump together for $350 cad so I basically paid $350 for the Alcatel. On the high side for the pump I got but at least I have all my fusor components and I can begin construction.

Will update with photos soon

Thanks for the help all,
AA