my little edwards E2M1 vacuum pump uses edwards “ultra grade 15” oil.
does anyone know of a good substitute? or should i just stick with the recommended stuff…?
-david
cool. ordered.
k heres another vacuum question:
we have a Busch PB 0004 B vacuum pump. i cannot find anywhere what type of oil it needs, but it is in definite need of an oil change. i emailed the Busch USA people, hopefully they will respond soon. i looked on the idealvac site and couldnt find a busch oil for this series of pump… it is a “lower end” pump… could a generic vacuum oil from mcmaster-carr work?
-david
just dug up the manual, i guess it is an R 5 series, which the idealvac.com folks do have oil for, cool!
-david
As long as the oil is suitable for vacuum, and the viscosity is right, things are OK.
Ok so I replaced the oil in our Busch r 5 pump. I ran it for about 10 minutes, drained it, and then refilled it.
Upon the first use however, it failed to pull more than -900mbar. This pump usually (before the oil went bad, or at least that’s what I though had happened) easily pulled -1025 or so, enough to degas our resins no problemo.
Interesting thing occurred though- while checking all the seals and tube junctions, I bumped the pump by accident. It almost instantly pulled down to -1000, hovered there for a second, then slowly lost vacuum back down to about -875…
Anyone have any idea what the heck is going on here? It has not to my knowledge been dropped or abused…
The only difference I can really tell since it was new is that it has a very slight metallic rattle sound going on inside while its running.
Any help or “been there, done that, got the T-shirt” advice is more than welcome!!
-david
K, so I changed strategies. Quit messing with small pumps.
I found a large Edwards E1M18 vacuum pump on Craigslist. Retails for over $4000.00 USD, I picked it up for $175.00 :):):)
Pulls about -1015 - -1025 no problem, haven’t even done the obligatory new pump oil change yet (oil is on it’s way) and it is FAST gets to -1015 in about 20 seconds. Gonna use it for molds AND degassing resin.
I told my boss that if the company didn’t buy it then I would. I shoulda just bought it for myself and not sai anything… Dangit lol
I friggin love Craigslist.
-david
Take theo ther pump apart. A vane might be damaged. Buy a service kit, and you have a spare pump.