Re: Progress on my fusor
Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:04 pm
Before I had gotten either of these responses I had decided to change the oil. I have already done one oil change before when I disassembled the pump to clean it. When I did the first oil change, the oil was black (It was light yellow when I had originally put it in). The black color of the oil and the fact that the pump was not working is what drove me to disassemble the pump to clean it. The inside of the pump was very dirty and all I had done was wipe down most of the black residue that was covering a lot of the pump with a cloth. I then reassembled the pump filled it with new oil and that is how I have been using it up to now. Before I had gotten the responses I drained some of the oil to see what color it was, and it was the same black color as before. I thought maybe I did not clean the pump well enough, so I did some searching on the internet and read some websites on rebuilding rotary vane vacuum pumps and realized that I other people where using a solvent like acetone or petroleum ether and wire brushes and steal wool to get all of the parts very clean. So I just spent yesterday completely disassembling my pump and thoroughly cleaning it. I didn't have quite enough oil left to test it so I ordered some more and it should be here on the fourth. August 4th also happens to be my birthday so I will not be achieving fusion as a fourteen year old as I had wanted to (although it was not very important to me). I cleaned the pump as if I was doing a rebuild, but I did not have a rebuild kit to replace any O-rings or gaskets. I would like to do a rebuild at some point in the future, but I can't find a rebuild kit for this model in particular (Edward's EDM12). In fact I can't find much information of any kind on this pump besides the few for sale on eBay and LabX. If any one knows anything about it or knows of a rebuild kit for it I would be interested knowing about it. If there is no rebuild kit for this model I would still like to change the main gasket that seals the oil within the body of the pump, as the gasket is fragile and very slowly will leak a couple drops of oil. The gasket appears to made out of cork, but before I order a sheet of cork gasket material and cut out the correct shape I am curious if maybe it is a particular kind of cork for these pumps, or if maybe there is a completely different material that is even better?
This is the oil that I have been using: https://www.duniway.com/part/mpo-190-1. I chose this one mainly because it was the least expensive, but there where some other options. If there is a better oil to use, and it is not the ridiculously expensive oil like fomblin, I might want to switch.
Thanks,
-Matthew
This is the oil that I have been using: https://www.duniway.com/part/mpo-190-1. I chose this one mainly because it was the least expensive, but there where some other options. If there is a better oil to use, and it is not the ridiculously expensive oil like fomblin, I might want to switch.
Thanks,
-Matthew