prodbot7
Active Member
I’ll be pulling things apart again in the next week or so. I consistently have issues with master testing correctly (even before the leak and bushings) and I’m about ready to yeet it.
Proposed fix for leaking Kamoer pumpheads (including Mastertronic)
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kenchilada
Palytoxin Abuser
That sucks. Mine keeps corrupting the SD card every couple of days. I have a ticket open but kind of suspect I’m SOL for a real fix.
Joe31415
Valuable Member
I believe there's a one year warranty on the Focustronic. If you've had it more than a year, your credit card likely gives you an additional year of protection, so you could go that route if you wanted.
Joe31415
Valuable Member
Quick update. I've found that this silicone sheet, when used to cover the vials, is bending the needles. Not horribly, but enough that it'll cause a problem eventually. Likely the needle being bent enough that it hits the edge of the lid or side of the vial and breaks. I already see it bending enough that the second needle ends up going through the same hole.
That one was 1/6"(~1.5mm) thick and I'm replacing the tops with one that's 1/32"(~.75) thick.
I probably could (should) have used 1/25"(~1mm). The size I'm currently using (1/32) feels thin enough that I could see it not being sandwiched tightly enough between the glass vial and the lid and the needle pushing the whole thing in to the reagent before it can pierce it.
Having said that, so far they're working fine, even with the non-OEM vial I picked up and the snap on lid I 3D printed, which I specifically made to work with the thicker silicone. So, I guess we'll see what happens.
HorsemKA
New Member
Do you sell these spacers? I don’t have a 3D printer and could really use these spacers. Thanks!Hi everyone,
Many of us with Kamoer KXF or X1 style pumpheads have experienced leakages in the tubing inside the pumphead. These pumpheads are also used in the Focustronic Mastertonic. This is my attempt at a fix. You need to use a 3D printer to print two of these spacers or washers per pumphead. Here is the link to Thingiverse for the STL and please refer to this Youtube video for installation instructions
The picture attached shows the pumphead impacted by the leaking
Yazannreef
Valuable Member
Hey there,Ok this will be kind of long but here we go.
I have one mastertronic in operation and another brand new one that will be going on my new tank.
After about 280 tests my pump B hose split. While waiting for the warrantied hose to come I swapped in the pump head from my new unit just to keep it running. After about 6-8 weeks I finally got my replacement hose.
During this time I searched around for cheaper hose, as this was obviously going to be an ongoing issue.
I found the hose on aliexpress, its the 4.5mmx2.5mm stuff. Sells for about $20 a meter(as opposed to $20 for 6")
Hose link
Its a pretty close match, here are the hose above, the brand name tube, and the tube removed from the pump.
I also found the 3d printed bushing at the start of this thread. I decided to print some out and install them on all the pumps. This unfortunately requires taking the unit apart to access pump C. It appears you can just cut away some of the casing and you could do it without taking it all apart but I decided to do it right just in case.
At this point the mastertronic had performed about 100 more tests since the leak when I swapped the pumps. It took me about an hour to get the unit apart. I wound up not disconnecting the wiring and just moving the internals until I could get to pump C. The second one took less than 30 min to complete. Here is what I found.
The original pump B failure at 280 tests.
Pump C at 380 tests. Boy and I glad I decided to do this now.
Pump B (the one I swapped in at about 100 tests) I went ahead and replaced this hose as well.
Pump A at about 380 test.
All 3 hoses after removal.
Pump head with a new hose and the bushing installed.
And for reference here is a brand new, unused pump.
So I have a running mastertronic with "off-brand" tubing and bushings on all 3 pumps. I re-calibrated the pumps and its done a testing cycle without issue. I will be monitoring the hose wear periodically since pumps A and B are easily popped off to look at. I have a few spare bushings and at least 2 feet of hose left.
The new unit has all stock hoses and I added the bushings.
Site notes.
Its obvious these pumps were not intented to need servicing so Im guessing this is a pump design flaw that the bushing hopefully fixes. And hopefully focustronic addresses ASAP.
I have done zero other maintenance to my mastertronic over the past 380 tests aside from 1 pump calibration. Im still rocking the same needles and rubber tops. I plan to run a descaling once or twice and replacing the rubber things over the next week. Needles are fine, Im leaving those alone.
Anyone with a 3d printer that can make these 3d printed bushing?? Or fan I buy them somewhere. Please advise. Thanks a lot
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