Chromatography Forum

Hi,

i have this problem:
a connection in pik in my injection valve is broken and the tapping part (supportive of the valve) is blocked inside so i can't take it out.
once the same thing happened and after the effort to take the connection out the valve was damaged...

Have you some non destructive ideas??

thank you

If I understand correctly you have a PEEK ferrule and a piece of tubing stuck into one of the ports on the valve.

Get yourself a very thin pointed screw (preferably brass so that there is less chance of damaging the valve), and screw it into the bore of the stuck tubing. Grip the end of the screw with pliers and pull it straight out.

This also works with ferrules stuck into the end of columns.

Good luck ! Peter

thank you Peter,
i'll try as soon as possible...
and pardon my italian english

bye

Plus... If you're careful you can try this: instead of a screw, use a blowtorch to heat a small screwdriver, then shove it ( carefully now!) into the broken peek ferrule that is stuck in the injection valve. This will melt the ferrule to the screwdriver, making it easier to unscrew!

You might find it easier to remove the injector valve from the autosampler first.

You can buy screw extractors at a good hardware store. In the US they are called EZ-Out. They are useful when a threaded nut breaks off inside the fitting.

It really depends on why the PEEK broke. If it broke because the back of the ferrule is locked into the threads, the best solution is to try and first pull the tubing out using one of those very small round tapered files found in the jewellers file sets you can purchase at most hardware stores.

You could also heat the file as suggested above, but I've found the best way is to screw it in anticlockwise and gently pull. Some of those files have both right and left hand knurling to produce the file surface.

Once the tubing is out ( and if you're very lucky the ferrule as well ), you can use an Easy Out, left hand threaded screw ( not common ) or a sligtly larger tapered round jewellers file ( my preferred choice ), again turning anticlockise to screw it in and then force the ferrule out. If you have to pull the ferrule straight out, ensure you clean the threads before putting a new nut/ferrule in. Patience and care will triumph.

The prevention is to switch to one-piece fingertight ferrules, as sold by Upchurch and others. I use them all the time, even on SS, and they work well for me. Two piece ferrules are supposed to be cheaper, but a 1/16 smooth SS tube pushed through the centre ( or even the center ) will make the one-piece reusable. YMMV.

Bruce Hamilton

Restek has a ferrule removal tool for this #25325.

My problem is this:



i don't know if you can watch it...