I received a Tobeco KFM v3 clone today.
My observations so far:
1. Smelled of machine oil. Tried washing it out with a Dawn and hot water soak. Helped a little but I can still sense the oil when pulling on the tank. I think the oil is somewhere in the airflow control area, which leads to the next problem I have.
2. The 5mm “nut” to remove the positive post - which would enable me to wash the airflow control area - is very shallow - too shallow for me to use the cheap driver that I had lying around the house. I won’t bother to explain why that’s so, but the result is that I’ll have to either borrow or buy another 5mm socket if I want to remove that section. Don't think that I want to risk using vice-grip pliers or anything like that.
3. The airflow is more restrictive than I imagined. The air hole under the coil is slightly bigger than 2mm, - maybe 2.1-2.3 mm - but IMO it feels more restrictive than that. (2 mm is the largest metric bit I have.) I won’t know whether this is a deal-breaker until I can adequately clean the oil out of the air-flow section and take the tank for a ride. The draw wide-open is just a shade more open - and I mean barely a shade - than my Mini Protank 2s with an airflow control base (Aerotank mini base?). It’s nowhere near as open as my GS-Air MS tanks, even though the GS coil’s air-flow pin has only about a 1.7 mm hole.
4. There was no manual with the unit, although that is not a problem afaic.
5. Need to watch out for the o-rings on the drip tip. After the hot water soak they were very soft. I had to lubricate them with some VG to get the tip back into the top of the tank, even after all the parts were cool. I think they will tear easily.
6. There was some debris - a very small amount - on one side of the insulator for the positive post. I think - but don’t know - that it was just an unclean cut of the insulator. I was eventually able to get the shreds out with a sewing pin. The debris was the same color as the insulator and could have either been still attached to the insulator or wedged between the insulator and the deck.
7. The tiny air-flow control screw (can’t think of the name of those headless screws right now - senior moment) is a little wobbly and rough, but seems to work well enough. I could not unscrew it completely from the shaft - it got stuck at the bottom entrance of of that shaft and I didn’t want to force it out — especially since I couldn’t turn that 5mm “nut”. (Edit: Grub screw.)
8. The juice holes on the deck are very small. Probably supposed to be 1 mm each. I could fit a 1.05 mm bit into each of the holes on one side of the deck, but couldn’t get the bit into either of the juice feed holes on the other half of the deck. <shrug> 1.05 mm is the smallest bit i have.
9. Spare o-rings and a screwdriver that will fit the air-flow screw are included. A spare glass section is not included, so if I end up liking this thing I will have to buy a few spares.
Please let me know if any of you has any suggestion as to how to get the oil out of the air-flow area without removing the positive post.
My observations so far:
1. Smelled of machine oil. Tried washing it out with a Dawn and hot water soak. Helped a little but I can still sense the oil when pulling on the tank. I think the oil is somewhere in the airflow control area, which leads to the next problem I have.
2. The 5mm “nut” to remove the positive post - which would enable me to wash the airflow control area - is very shallow - too shallow for me to use the cheap driver that I had lying around the house. I won’t bother to explain why that’s so, but the result is that I’ll have to either borrow or buy another 5mm socket if I want to remove that section. Don't think that I want to risk using vice-grip pliers or anything like that.
3. The airflow is more restrictive than I imagined. The air hole under the coil is slightly bigger than 2mm, - maybe 2.1-2.3 mm - but IMO it feels more restrictive than that. (2 mm is the largest metric bit I have.) I won’t know whether this is a deal-breaker until I can adequately clean the oil out of the air-flow section and take the tank for a ride. The draw wide-open is just a shade more open - and I mean barely a shade - than my Mini Protank 2s with an airflow control base (Aerotank mini base?). It’s nowhere near as open as my GS-Air MS tanks, even though the GS coil’s air-flow pin has only about a 1.7 mm hole.
4. There was no manual with the unit, although that is not a problem afaic.
5. Need to watch out for the o-rings on the drip tip. After the hot water soak they were very soft. I had to lubricate them with some VG to get the tip back into the top of the tank, even after all the parts were cool. I think they will tear easily.
6. There was some debris - a very small amount - on one side of the insulator for the positive post. I think - but don’t know - that it was just an unclean cut of the insulator. I was eventually able to get the shreds out with a sewing pin. The debris was the same color as the insulator and could have either been still attached to the insulator or wedged between the insulator and the deck.
7. The tiny air-flow control screw (can’t think of the name of those headless screws right now - senior moment) is a little wobbly and rough, but seems to work well enough. I could not unscrew it completely from the shaft - it got stuck at the bottom entrance of of that shaft and I didn’t want to force it out — especially since I couldn’t turn that 5mm “nut”. (Edit: Grub screw.)
8. The juice holes on the deck are very small. Probably supposed to be 1 mm each. I could fit a 1.05 mm bit into each of the holes on one side of the deck, but couldn’t get the bit into either of the juice feed holes on the other half of the deck. <shrug> 1.05 mm is the smallest bit i have.
9. Spare o-rings and a screwdriver that will fit the air-flow screw are included. A spare glass section is not included, so if I end up liking this thing I will have to buy a few spares.
Please let me know if any of you has any suggestion as to how to get the oil out of the air-flow area without removing the positive post.
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