In getting my Rek-O-Kut running again, I upgraded the tubing to 1/2" inner diameter and sealed off some air leaks with a redesigned jar lid, resulting in effective suction increasing to the point that I could run the pump at 50% power when starting the cut and 30% thereafter and not have any problems at all for twenty minutes at a time... or so I thought. Then yesterday I pulled out the first of the the brand-new Apollo dubs I'd ordered last month and tried to cut a side. Hello, my old nemesis, slowly-growing sock-like glob of balled chip at the end of the latex tubing inside the jar. I turned the suction power up to full, but it was no good, I couldn't dislodge the clog and it grew until suction was cut off and the chip dropped six minutes into the side. Argh.
![Mad :x](./images/smilies/icon_mad.gif)
Then it occurred to me that everything I'd been cutting until then was technically New Old Stock, made in 2001, 2002 at the latest. This fresh box had a date code of D13001, so I'm assuming it's barely a month old. And I had the exact same problem with the old stuff when it was new.
Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid this problem, besides ordering blanks a year or two in advance of using them? I do use talcum powder to lubricate the inside of the tubing, but in cases like this I wonder how effective it is.