lavish with the fluids - walker / loricraft

1. For maximum vacuum make sure all your seals are airtight. Coat each hose fitting with a thin layer of Vaseline and reinstall the tube. Do the same for the seal on the jar lid. When it gets old and dried out, replace it with a new, standard canning jar lid (drill holes for the hoses).

2. Leave the arm hanging off the back and the vacuum pump switched on between passes (not during long enzyme soaks, just while brushing the other fluids around). Letting the nozzle suck air may help keep the vacuum tube clear (untested hypothesis, but I have fewer thread-pulling issues).

3. The nozzle can get gunked up on the inside. To clean, trim the bristles on a pipe cleaner to about half normal height for a length of about 2 inches. Wet the trimmed end and it carefully, a mm at a time, into the nozzle as far as it will go. Scrub.

Timely thread...Last week my Loricraft experienced a sudden decline in performance. It was leaving behind a significant amount of fluid and the thread was not advancing. On a couple of instances the vacuum would not turn on.

So I called Smart Devices and they offered to have me ship the item back for service but suggested I try cleaning the tubing by injecting isopropyl alcohol via a syringe. I tried their suggestion with only minimal improvement. Being a Type A radiologist, I decided to perform an "angioplasty". I placed a small catheter into the tube over a Bentson wire and injected the rubbing alcohol as I slowly withdrew the catheter. (When a technologist asked me which patient I required the supplied, I answered "Lori Craft".) Using this technique, I was able to extrude a "clot" of debris. After a brief recovery period, the patient has resumed normal record cleaning activities without recurrence of the symptoms. And no, I did not send a bill for either the professional or technical fee. (Hmmm...can I write this off as a pro bono service?)

BTW, I'm sure a pipe cleaner works well.

Jazdoc,

Now that's health care reform. Wish we all had access to your supply room.

Can we Medevac our patients suffering from S.A.D. (Suctionary Artery Disorder) to your facility for this groundbreaking treatment? Publishing in this highly regarded, peer-reviewed journal makes you the recognized leader in the field. Of course you may want to check your P.I.S.S. (Patient Information Support System) to make sure it can handle multiple or repeat patients named "Craft, Lori".

Seriously, any idea how far up the tube you had to go to clear the blockage? My pipe cleaner is too inflexible to go beyond the sharp curve in the tube. (Of course that's a likely place for a blockage, so it may be far enough.)

Doug,

The guide wire has a soft, flexible tip so that I was able to guide it through the entire length of the tubing (from back to front) through the nozzle. I agree that much like atherosclerotic plaque, debris build up tends to occur at the sharp curve distal to the nozzle.

Maybe I should establish my own Lori Craft clinic???? Now if I can only get my hands on some of that bail-out money....

On a semi-serious note, it occurs to me that given the advice I got from Smart Devices, this is not an unusual problem. Perhaps Loricraft or Smart Devices should make a maintence tool available.

BTW, are you guys going back to RMAF this year?