When all hell breaks loose Fix it and move on!

This is a picture of a rotary vane vacuum pump.

Notice there are no rotary vanes!

They are normally in the slots that are totally or partially filled with black stuff. The black stuff is supposed to be a firm rubber compound. A few days of work, and then no more vacuum. Can't really complain, the pump is almost 30 years old. It has paid it's dues to my workshop.

The replacement and the defective little monster are below.

As a little bit of bigger is better, I now have a real monster of a vacuum pump. So a trade up in a round about manner.

This little monster enables some custom work to finally get moving towards completion.

And I get to get my hands dirty a bit and spend less time in front of a computer for a while.

Pics as to what this little setup does will follow.