Scroll pump
Contents
Tip seal
One of the biggest issue of owning a scroll pump is tip seals wear out fairly quickly and can be expensive to replace. Many scroll pumps are essentially totaled if kits can't be found readily. This section is about evaluating the merits of making DIY tip seals
Understand wear profile of different materials. Ex: for hobby use a lower grade material may be good enough for low duty cycle
How to know when tip seal is running low without opening / hearing grinding? What it be helpful to install hour counter?
Commercial
Sample commercial pricing. Keep distributors anonymous unless they explicitly list pricing
| Vendor | Pump | Kit | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Busch | FO 0018 C OHO | Tip seal | $545.00
2021-04 |
|
| Busch | FO 0018 C OHO | Full | $3928.00
2021-04 |
How much does a pump cost.. |
Manufacturing gaskets
Some suggested that these can only be injection molded
Suspect these can be (waterjet?) cut from sheets or simply applied as strips
Laser cutting probably isn't precise enough and would produce nasty fluorinated fumes
Milling might work (with enough support) but will waste a lot of expensive material
Material (black)
Busch black gasket material analysis
- Suspected to be bronze filled PTFE
- FTIR has confirmed PTFE is primary organic
- EDS analysis pending
McMaster-Carr has bronze filled PTFE sheets
Material (yellow)
Scrolls [walls] are anodized aluminum
[gasket] likely Class 3 PTFE filled
that 1045 is even more likely
Rulon J can be made in thin film form
Looking at some rebuild kits
- official kit has green viton orings not brown [for general gaskets]
Other option could be use something like PTFE bronze that could wear off easier but it's 10X cheaper so you would endup changing the seal more frequently but without custom built orders
Yellow gasket
- Suspected Rulon J or XL
- XL - is polymers only
- J has something else
- Rulon 142 has bronze
- New edwards pumps dont use black tip seals
- https://www.idealvac.com/Varian-V70-Turbo-Molecular-Vacuum-Pump-Rebuilt-Repair-Kit/pp/P105145
- Red stuff is Rulon LR
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTUvP2FnfR4
- Identifying Rulon variants
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWkPf-5k9RU
- About Rulon 142
