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Sorry Long post.
Ok Greenhulkers. This post is information only. I am not selling or pushing anything/anyone in this post, so please don't ask. It is just basically how I did it for your viewing purposes only. There are many ways to skin a cat but this is how I did it. I am well aware about sending my pump out and having this done. So I fully understand the service that is available by the pros. I will have pics coming very soon. However, I have not tested the machine yet. A little history about me: I have a pretty good shop at my house. I am thankful for what I have and thank my Father for instilling/teaching me when I was very young to be a craftsman and to get something done right; do it yourself. I do not consider myself a machinist or a welder but I can make parts and or repair them. I can weld steel, stainless, inconel, aluminum and other exotic metals. Again, this is just a hobby.
I am going to explain the whole process here and only add pics in subsequent posts with just one liners. I will try to add the pics chronologically when I can, however some maybe out of order.
So here we go.
The machine had catastrophic pump bearing failure at about 45 hours, looks like water intrusion caused it. I had to get a new shaft, bearings, etc. Pump housing was good; seal area got a little buggerd up. I cleaned that area up with a boring bar on the mill. Then I was able to order a wear ring from a company on ebay from ebay seller=jet-ski-parts for 69.95. Disclaimer, I have no affiliation with this ebay seller. Just trying to help out other Greenhulk members. I am sure some of you will cringe/pucker at this vendor but when I got the well packaged part the fit and finish of this ring was pretty good. The weld seam was also pretty good. I still may dress it up a little once I start checking the impeller clearance. It took 10 minutes to cut the old wear ring out with a dremmel tool being careful not to cut into the aluminum pump housing. I had the new wear ring in the freezer overnight. I heated the housing with a heat gun. I did not really get it super hot. I wore gloves handling the cold wear ring. I got the wear ring started by hand, no hammering, just my hands. I then took the whole set up to my press and finished pressing it in using a large flat plate of aluminum to press it in evenly. A few pumps and I was done. LOL. Total time to install the wear ring, about 5 minutes. Remember there is a small factory set screw protruding into the wear ring. Thus a hole needs to be drilled into the new wear ring. This was the longest and most painful part of this process. Drilling this by hand without a milling machine will be very difficult and not to ruin the tiny threads in the housing. Once I had the hole centered on my milling machine I made sure the table was locked in both X and Y axis. I used a tiny drill bit, but before that, I used a transfer punch just to get an indentation to keep the drill bit from walking. This stuff is like drilling glass. So far so good and cleaned the burrs off the wear ring. Blue locktite the screw home.
Now, onto the impeller. I checked the clearance with a feeler gauge and it was about .022ÔÇØ. That is just too much gap. Plus the impeller had clearly been made ÔÇ£smallerÔÇØ because of the bearing failure. Thus I TIG welded up the edges using 312 rod. I used pulse mode in order to keep the heat down. I alternated the welds around too, and let it cool in-between to prevent warping. This is currently where I am at right now. I am going to set up a tool post grinder on my lathe in order to achieve the size and clearance I am looking for. I will again post pics when I get this set up and cutting. I may post a Youtube vid on this as well. Water and weather is still cold here. Probably will be testing this thing in a month or so stay tuned.
T.J.
Ok Greenhulkers. This post is information only. I am not selling or pushing anything/anyone in this post, so please don't ask. It is just basically how I did it for your viewing purposes only. There are many ways to skin a cat but this is how I did it. I am well aware about sending my pump out and having this done. So I fully understand the service that is available by the pros. I will have pics coming very soon. However, I have not tested the machine yet. A little history about me: I have a pretty good shop at my house. I am thankful for what I have and thank my Father for instilling/teaching me when I was very young to be a craftsman and to get something done right; do it yourself. I do not consider myself a machinist or a welder but I can make parts and or repair them. I can weld steel, stainless, inconel, aluminum and other exotic metals. Again, this is just a hobby.
I am going to explain the whole process here and only add pics in subsequent posts with just one liners. I will try to add the pics chronologically when I can, however some maybe out of order.
So here we go.
The machine had catastrophic pump bearing failure at about 45 hours, looks like water intrusion caused it. I had to get a new shaft, bearings, etc. Pump housing was good; seal area got a little buggerd up. I cleaned that area up with a boring bar on the mill. Then I was able to order a wear ring from a company on ebay from ebay seller=jet-ski-parts for 69.95. Disclaimer, I have no affiliation with this ebay seller. Just trying to help out other Greenhulk members. I am sure some of you will cringe/pucker at this vendor but when I got the well packaged part the fit and finish of this ring was pretty good. The weld seam was also pretty good. I still may dress it up a little once I start checking the impeller clearance. It took 10 minutes to cut the old wear ring out with a dremmel tool being careful not to cut into the aluminum pump housing. I had the new wear ring in the freezer overnight. I heated the housing with a heat gun. I did not really get it super hot. I wore gloves handling the cold wear ring. I got the wear ring started by hand, no hammering, just my hands. I then took the whole set up to my press and finished pressing it in using a large flat plate of aluminum to press it in evenly. A few pumps and I was done. LOL. Total time to install the wear ring, about 5 minutes. Remember there is a small factory set screw protruding into the wear ring. Thus a hole needs to be drilled into the new wear ring. This was the longest and most painful part of this process. Drilling this by hand without a milling machine will be very difficult and not to ruin the tiny threads in the housing. Once I had the hole centered on my milling machine I made sure the table was locked in both X and Y axis. I used a tiny drill bit, but before that, I used a transfer punch just to get an indentation to keep the drill bit from walking. This stuff is like drilling glass. So far so good and cleaned the burrs off the wear ring. Blue locktite the screw home.
Now, onto the impeller. I checked the clearance with a feeler gauge and it was about .022ÔÇØ. That is just too much gap. Plus the impeller had clearly been made ÔÇ£smallerÔÇØ because of the bearing failure. Thus I TIG welded up the edges using 312 rod. I used pulse mode in order to keep the heat down. I alternated the welds around too, and let it cool in-between to prevent warping. This is currently where I am at right now. I am going to set up a tool post grinder on my lathe in order to achieve the size and clearance I am looking for. I will again post pics when I get this set up and cutting. I may post a Youtube vid on this as well. Water and weather is still cold here. Probably will be testing this thing in a month or so stay tuned.
T.J.
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