Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

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fredzyda
 
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Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by fredzyda »

I got my peristaltic pump a while ago, but just started playing with it. I plan on using it to make a driver hydration system for my race car, so the first thing I did was order some tubing from McMaster Carr to make sure I had nice clean tubing I could be comfortable drinking out of. Following the advice of the product page here:

http://www.adafruit.com/products/1150

I ordered McMaster part number K3184K8. That is totally the wrong part! It is pretty clear how the mistake was made: someone knew the ID of the pump tubing and then grabbed a pump out of the box and measured the OD of the tubing hanging off the end. What they didn't realize is that there are adapter barbs right at the pump that go from the 1/16" pump size to a larger size. The tubing specified has the ID of the tubing in the pump and the OD of the other stuff, which makes it pretty useless. I should have caught that mistake when I ordered, but I figured since the part number was specified it was right. Oops. Now I'm out $12, which is a bit of a bummer.

The important question is: what's the right size of tubing really? I measure the outer diameter of the tubing to be about 0.140", which puts it right in between the two closest sizes of 1/16" ID tubing McMaster has. In fact, if I attempt to measure the ID of the tubing supplied, it is more like .095". That puts it larger than 1/16". Has anyone ever replaced this tubing? What worked? What's the correct tubing size and McMaster part number? I notice that McMaster actually has tubing specific to peristaltic pumps, but it is sized according to a "Pump Tube" size, which I'm not super familiar with. It is here if anyone happens to know which size would work with this pump:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#high-purity-wh ... ps/=o5h9xu

Thanks in advance for your help! Once I figure out the right answer I'll see if I can get someone to change the product page so they don't end up buying the wrong tubing like I did.

fredzyda
 
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Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 11:56 pm

Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by fredzyda »

Hmm, I reread the product page to see if there were any further clues and all I found was more misleading information. The description says the pump uses 3/16" OD tubing, which is clearly not what I have. The tubing I have measures around .047" smaller than the specified size. I know that this squishy rubber stuff is hard to measure, but I'm certainly not .047" off, the tubing doesn't even contact both jaws of my calipers if I set them to 3/16". It is almost like the description was written for some other part.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Thanks for the heads-up. We'll check into it.

adafruit
 
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Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by adafruit »

The distributor changed the motor slightly, so the measurements were not correct. We've updated the page. Since we're not 100% sure which one you have and if they've also updated it more than once, you should try measuring the tubing used in your pump (OD and ID and then find the matching silicone tubing at mcmaster. thanks for the notice!

kenkubick
 
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Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:25 am

Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by kenkubick »

[quote="fredzyda"]I got my peristaltic pump a while ago, but just started playing with it. I plan on using it to make a driver hydration system for my race car, so the first thing I did was order some tubing from McMaster Carr to make sure I had nice clean tubing I could be comfortable drinking out of. Following the advice of the product page here:

http://www.adafruit.com/products/1150

I ordered McMaster part number K3184K8. That is totally the wrong part! It is pretty clear how the mistake was made: someone knew the ID of the pump tubing and then grabbed a pump out of the box and measured the OD of the tubing hanging off the end. What they didn't realize is that there are adapter barbs right at the pump that go from the 1/16" pump size to a larger size. The tubing specified has the ID of the tubing in the pump and the OD of the other stuff, which makes it pretty useless. I should have caught that mistake when I ordered, but I figured since the part number was specified it was right. Oops. Now I'm out $12, which is a bit of a bummer.

What is the size, company and mcmaster part number of the silicone tubing and barbed adapters that come with the peristaltic pump? I need to buy some more of that tubing.

danomene
 
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Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2014 6:36 pm

Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by danomene »

The more I sit and measure these, the more I think they are metric tubes, at least on my pump. If you do a Google Image search for DC12V 5000RPM peristaltic pump a bunch of images come up that look like the EXACT same pump, so this is likely Chinese (which makes the metric seem a bit more likely).

From my measurements the inner tube (the tubing in the pump) appears to be 2 mm ID x 4 mm OD, while the outer lengths of tubing are 2 mm ID x 5 mm OD (or some 3/16" OD, if adafruit is attaching them). It looks like McMaster-Carr has http://www.mcmaster.com/#5054k66/ and US Plastics has http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=864.

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eddiewinn
 
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Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by eddiewinn »

Can anybody [preferably an adafruit rep] confirm / link to tubing that is guaranteed to work with this pump? I have ordered and tried the previously suggested McMaster Carr item #5054k66. It does not fit. I do not want to keep ordering the wrong items. I feel as though it should be possible for Adafruit to contact the supplier to get the actual, exact tubing used. And perhaps start selling it.

Thanks for any help,

EW

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by adafruit2 »

OK sorry for the delay, catching up on a few of these requests -
just grabbed one out of stock, the little tubing thats in the pump itself is ~4mm OD, ~2mm ID
the tubing attached to the barbs is ~4.5mm OD, ~2.5mm ID

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davidbjanes
 
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Re: Peristaltic Pump Tubing Size?

Post by davidbjanes »

Reading these comments and looking at McMaster Carr, I think the correct tubing for the larger tubing (not the tubing in the pump) is actually the part: 1972T16

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-silic ... ng/=zu7gw8

ID: 0.104" = 2.64mm ~ 2.5mm
OD: 0.192" = 4.87mm ~ 5.0mm
Wall: 0.044" = 1.11mm ~ 1.25mm

None of the metric tubing at McMaster Carr has half sizes for ID, or quarter sizes for Wall.

For the tubing in the pump itself, I agree with you all that the ID: ~2mm, OD: ~4mm. However, I wasn't able to find silicon tubing with those dimensions at McMaster Carr. Can anyone point me to that part?

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