SGT500 Regulators on EBay

JimG

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Jun 11, 2010
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Well, this looks like a miserable failure for me. I was unable to remove the CGA 350 inlet with hand tools no matter how hard I tried and only succeeded in almost totally rounding off the hex on one. I finally had an auto shop remove them with an air gun. On both, the regulator threads appear to have been damaged and perhaps stripped. There is a solid piece of metal stuck between the threads on each of them at about the 3rd or 4th turn in. Damn.
 
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JimG

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[attachment=1584:name]View attachment 4646
JimG;116948 said:
Well, this looks like a miserable failure for me. I was unable to remove the CGA 350 inlet with hand tools no matter how hard I tried and only succeeded in almost totally rounding off the hex on one. I finally had an auto shop remove them with an air gun. On both, the threads appear to have been damaged and perhaps stripped. There is a solid piece of metal stuck between the screws on each of them at about the 3rd or 4th turn in. Damn.
As you can see.

image.jpg
 

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PK1

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Oct 7, 2005
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JimG;116950 said:

Sorry to hear that. While I am no expert and hope someone more qualified will chime in, my initial thought is to re-tap the threads with the same size (1/4" NPT?) as original and see if this cleans up the threads enough to get a solid connection with your CGA 320. Given that this is on the HP side, you'd want a solid and secure connection. Failing that, tap a size larger and use an adapter but I have no idea whether a machine shop will need to do this and how much they'd charge. It may not be worth it if too expensive.

Edit - you'd have to pack the inside of the connection with some material to stop shavings from getting into the unit - but I know I'm stating the obvious...

I'll keep an eye on my connection and see if I have the same issue. Thinking since I don't have a CGA adapter on mine at all, hopefully they haven't tightened the existing fitting as much knowing that it may get removed.
 
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JimG

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If I had it to do all over again, I would have bought the one you bought. Not having to deal with removing the existing inlets is worth more than buying a gauge.

Unfortunately, the removed CGA 350 inlet threads appear intact. If the damage was to them, I would not have cared. They are being trashed anyway.
 

PK1

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With the benefit of hindsight, sure... Besides, I haven't tried mine yet so I may also encounter similar difficulties.

Are you going to try your other regulator? I'd first call Victor and ask them if they do anything special when assembling the CGA connections (higher torque, bonding material, etc...)
 

charlie

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Oct 25, 2006
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Matt F.;116980 said:
For some reason I can't open page #4 or 5. I get an error message. :/
I suffered the same thing, i was having this issue with IE tried Firefox & enabled me to view the pages.
OP i had that same issues with another model reg. and like you ended up damaging the thread.
Regards
 

JimG

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Jun 11, 2010
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It's difficult to take pictures with enough detail to be useful. I'm pretty sure I have one stripped thread on one and two on the other.
 

PK1

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Oct 7, 2005
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Oh no, so both regulators are damaged? I'd still look into the option of re-tapping the threads on the one with the least damage.
 

PK1

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Can't open the pictures.... There are too many bugs in this thread.

I'm thinking we should start a new thread, a "SGT500... Continued"
 

JimG

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Jun 11, 2010
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The pictures are uploading problems on my end that I will try to rectify when I can. I see it has been mentioned that a stainless steel regulator is toast if the regulator body threads have been stripped. Given the money and time already invested, I am sick over this. I have ordered a 1/4" NPT thread tap and will try to clean the threads up and see how things are. On the better one, the portion of stripped thread is only about as long as a fingernail is wide. I cannot believe that a single thread would make a regulator unusable/unsafe. There has to be a margin of error in these things. This is the high pressure fitting, so safety is paramount, though. One note is that I use a 10 lb CO2 tank, and the wine store where I get my refills cannot seem to put more than 5 lbs into it, so the regulator will not see anything near its maximum design pressure.
 

JimG

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Jun 11, 2010
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PK1;117128 said:
Hope it works out. Keep us posted.
Thanks. By the way, I think you will be fine. I had no problem removing the outlet fittings with hand tools. I think your "placekeeper" inlet fitting will be the same way. Victor must have used Loctite or something on the inlet threads on mine.

I am still not sure where the strips of metal deposited between the regulator body threads came from. There is no obvious place in the regulator body threads where material has been removed. It may have possibly come from the CGA 350 fittings after all. The strips are somewhat darker in color. I tried prying them out with a pick to no avail.
 
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Tom Barr

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Jan 23, 2005
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Try using heat, a torch and then get it pretty hot, this is your best chance at picking it clean.
 

JimG

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Jun 11, 2010
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Tom Barr;117161 said:
Try using heat, a torch and then get it pretty hot, this is your best chance at picking it clean.

It is my current intention to try to clean out at least the first 6 or 7 threads with a 1/4" NPT 18 Tap with very little bit of Tap Magic Protap, which will need to be thoroughly cleaned out later.

I thought we were not supposed to apply heat so as not to melt the seals?
 

PK1

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Oct 7, 2005
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JimG;117164 said:
I thought we were not supposed to apply heat so as not to melt the seals?

This was my first thought as well. Not knowing the internal structure of a regulator, I'd be hesitant in heating it. Even if there are no synthetic materials in this product, I'd be afraid heat would affect the physical properties if mire sensitive components such as membrane, etc.
 

JimG

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Jun 11, 2010
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Maybe Tom was just talking about heating the metal pick, rather than the regulator itself.
 

oldpunk

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Dec 1, 2009
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If you take a torch to your reg, you might as well just send the gauges to oldpunk so the whole thing won't be trash. Heat will ruin some of the parts inside.