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Varian V 550 turbo pump refurbishing

Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:26 pm
by Alex Vargas
I am currently trying to refurbish a Varian V 550 turbo pump Model 969-9049 to replace our old diffusion pump for the research lab I work at. We received this pump as a donation and when I attempted to test to see if it works, the controller spit out an error saying "Fault: Too High Load." I checked the manual to see how to repair this error and it said to check that the pump rotor is free to rotate. The pump rotor was not free to rotate which triggered the disassemble to see why it has such a hard time rotating. I disassembled the pump to where the bladed and macrotorr stages are bare. I have also taken the flange on the bottom to expose the rotor and I noticed that the ball bearing needs to be replaced. Also, when I manually turn the blades, there is a grinding sound that I am fairly sure is coming from the upper bearing. I am unsure of how to disassemble this pump further to be able to diagnose what this grinding sound is coming from. Any tips on how to disassemble the pump further or if anyone has had a similar problem, I would greatly appreciate the feedback. I have included pictures on the disassemble.

Thanks!

Alex Vargas