Was just curious if anyone has ahad any experience with this before.
I purchased a used FX5 off of Ebay for $58 as it was advertized that one fo these ports had broken off in the valve. It was output port. The Filter runs fine and came with almost everything except it was missing the one of the tank clamps, the output nozzle and rubber hose connector and a lid lock.
I fabricated a lid lock (used a long carriage bolts with the nut pounded into a large nut and a metal wrapped around the bottom end to slip into the pivit slot) until I get the new one in the mail along with a the other tank clamp, rubber hose connector and output nozzle.
What I did was sand, all areas that were to have dual compound epoxy applied, with rough sandpaper and wipped clean. Then I aaplied a tiny bit of the mixed epoxy to the broken surface and then a TON in between the 1/4" lip at the bottom of the port that sits about 3/16" above the lids surface. Then once it set for a few hours (actually only needs 5 minutes to set) I coated the rest of the outside of the bottom section of the port and the lid to form one piece...
I'm thinking that this may work Very well! It's not like there's a lot fo pressure in the equasion....
Here's a look at the process for Anyone that wants to consider this fix for their own benefit...
First application to the actual break and surrounding area...
The area where you can see the epoxy at this point will be completely covered a few pictures down...
Area surrounding the entire base of the port has been sanded in this picture with rough sandpaper as well to maximized adhesion...
You can barely see the minute amount of epoxy that seeped through to the other side of the breake after the repair. This was scrapped away with exptremely sharp knife and then finely sanded...
This is the finished product 48 hours later and it's running on my 180 along with another FX5 (got that one used for $50 and it was only missing a lid lock!!!). You can see in these next few pictures that I basically use the epoxy to make the port and lid one rediculously solid pice again by the use of the space that is normally there.... Then Covered that... The only other thing that I had to do was some mild carving of the base of the aquastop valve and about 1/8" up from the bottom on the inside to make up for the room taken by the applied epoxy...
Here is the fabricated lid lock that I created. I simply took the nut from the long carriage bolt that I used and opundd it into one side of the large nut and made it flush with the nuts surface. Then I flatened parrallel sides of the carriage bolts head and wrapped it with a piece of drilled ribbon metal to simulate the orange plastic anchors that cover the head of the FX5 original lid locks. Flatening the Bolts head and wrapping it with the metal stops it from spinning when tightening the lock at the top...
Here are both of the FX5's running on my 180 gallon tropheus tank...
Not bad for $108 worth of used FX5 filters and some innovation... $126 total including the $18 shipping on the one off of ebay....
Filter has been running smoothly and solidly for over 24hours...
This repair saved me another $36-$40 for a new FX5 lid....
I purchased a used FX5 off of Ebay for $58 as it was advertized that one fo these ports had broken off in the valve. It was output port. The Filter runs fine and came with almost everything except it was missing the one of the tank clamps, the output nozzle and rubber hose connector and a lid lock.
I fabricated a lid lock (used a long carriage bolts with the nut pounded into a large nut and a metal wrapped around the bottom end to slip into the pivit slot) until I get the new one in the mail along with a the other tank clamp, rubber hose connector and output nozzle.
What I did was sand, all areas that were to have dual compound epoxy applied, with rough sandpaper and wipped clean. Then I aaplied a tiny bit of the mixed epoxy to the broken surface and then a TON in between the 1/4" lip at the bottom of the port that sits about 3/16" above the lids surface. Then once it set for a few hours (actually only needs 5 minutes to set) I coated the rest of the outside of the bottom section of the port and the lid to form one piece...
I'm thinking that this may work Very well! It's not like there's a lot fo pressure in the equasion....
Here's a look at the process for Anyone that wants to consider this fix for their own benefit...
First application to the actual break and surrounding area...
The area where you can see the epoxy at this point will be completely covered a few pictures down...
Area surrounding the entire base of the port has been sanded in this picture with rough sandpaper as well to maximized adhesion...
You can barely see the minute amount of epoxy that seeped through to the other side of the breake after the repair. This was scrapped away with exptremely sharp knife and then finely sanded...
This is the finished product 48 hours later and it's running on my 180 along with another FX5 (got that one used for $50 and it was only missing a lid lock!!!). You can see in these next few pictures that I basically use the epoxy to make the port and lid one rediculously solid pice again by the use of the space that is normally there.... Then Covered that... The only other thing that I had to do was some mild carving of the base of the aquastop valve and about 1/8" up from the bottom on the inside to make up for the room taken by the applied epoxy...
Here is the fabricated lid lock that I created. I simply took the nut from the long carriage bolt that I used and opundd it into one side of the large nut and made it flush with the nuts surface. Then I flatened parrallel sides of the carriage bolts head and wrapped it with a piece of drilled ribbon metal to simulate the orange plastic anchors that cover the head of the FX5 original lid locks. Flatening the Bolts head and wrapping it with the metal stops it from spinning when tightening the lock at the top...
Here are both of the FX5's running on my 180 gallon tropheus tank...
Not bad for $108 worth of used FX5 filters and some innovation... $126 total including the $18 shipping on the one off of ebay....
Filter has been running smoothly and solidly for over 24hours...
This repair saved me another $36-$40 for a new FX5 lid....
