terry s

iTrader: (5)

I could not get my new NX opener to tighten down. The reason was I have the newer NX 45 degree bottle valve. The 45 degree valve will not let the clamp come to the bottom of the aluminum housing so it does not have enough leverage to squeeze the housing on to the ring which squeezes onto the bottle.

To fix this I put the bottle nut in a lathe and turned all of the hex off except the last 5/16". I turned it to the same diameter as the round end of the bottle nut. This helped but was not enough to let the clamp come to the bottom of the aluminum housing. So I took a small grinding wheel 1/8" wide and ground a semi circle out of the bottom of the clamp the same contour as the round end of the bottle nut. The semi circle is 13/16" wide at the botton and 3/16" deep into the clamp.

Now it clamps just fine. The opener was designed for the older 90 degree nut and fits them fine. NX Jeremy suggested just raising the housing up which may work. But I did not like the idea that this will cause the teeth on the gear to have less contact with the plastic teeth on the clutch and I think this may strip the plastic teeth after a while.

NX Jeremy: If you read this you may want to suggest a design change to the people at NX. I know you said the one you had there was tight but I believe you will be getting complaints from people not being able to get them tight or having them come loose. The opener its self worked great but people should be able to just put it on like they can with the older bottle valve.

One other thing I found is the 4 screws that hold the plastic housing onto the aluminum housing only have a couple of theads engaged in the aluminum. It appears to me that to save manufacturing costs they do not tap the aluminum but rely on the stainless steel screws to self tap a couple of threads. I was not comfortable with this. I took a 6-32 tap and made sure it will slide all the way through the hole on the plastic. Then I screwed the plastic top onto the aluminum housing. I took 1 screw out at a time and put the tap in the hole so it will go in perfectly straight. I then tapped the hole to the bottom. When it gets snug quit so you do not break the small tap off. I put the screw in and repeated for the other 3 holes. Then you can get 7/8" or 1" screws. Screw the new screw all the way in and hold the plastic housing up to it to be sure the screw is not to long or that you did not tap deep enough. Now you won't have to worry about stripping the threads.

I am not bashing the NX product and no one may have stripped a screw but I like my stuff to be as trouble free as possible after I put it in. NX makes quality stuff but I think the opener needs some chnages to make it more trouble free when used with the 45 degree bottle valve.

Jeremy: Tell the NX engineers this one is on me. A little product development help for free so they don't need to send me a check.

Airwolf

iTrader: (2)

Nice work Terry and good feedback on your solution. I have a friend who has the new bottle and is getting an opener so I will be able to dup what you have described for him if he has trouble.
Thanks.

terry s

iTrader: (5)

Airwolf:
If he needs the bottle nut turned down I'll be glad to do it if he wants to send it to me.

Airwolf

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the offer, Terry. I have a full machine shop so should not be a problem.

NXRICKY

iTrader: (1)

There is no need to turn the bottle nut down. I just went out to the shop and rechecked... The opener works fine, I think you may have tried to install the unit to deep. The set point of the teeth by raising the unit up a little stays in plenty of contact.. Anything from 1/3 or more engagement is plenty strong. The bodies are threaded deeper then the screws go. No mfg savings because its done on an NC machine. There are roughly 3 threads, again plenty of engagement, we have rounded a many of allen wrenches over the years were the guys in the back just over tighten those little stainless screws.
I am sorry you went throu all this just to get your opener to work. Glad you go your working the way you wanted to.
Ricky

NXJeremy

Terry, after talking with Ricky and re-installing an opener on the 45 degree valve I must say that the opener fits fine on the new valve. The other day when you and I talked on phone and I installed the opener I must have had the collar too far down on the neck of the valve. When the collar is installed at the correct height the opener fits perfectly without any modifications to the nut or clamp.

About the bolts holes not being deep enough. I used to have to put the openers together in the shop and I never once broke one of the bolts or had an opener body and motor come apart due to the bolts breaking. I could actually take the allen wrench and tighten the bolts as much as I could by hand, and as Ricky stated above, the wrench would round off instead of the bolt breaking.

Terry, sorry to hear about all you did to get the opener on, but thank you for being happy with our products. If I can help in the future just let me know.

terry s

iTrader: (5)

Thanks for the reply. I just installed the opener following the instructions. You may be right about the engagement but from my experience I would prefer to have as much contact area between the aluminum driver and the plastic teeth to reduce the possibility of strippint the teeth in the future. I may be a little **** about things but I prefer to make things as reliable as reasonably possible.

If the holes are threaded deeper they must have missed that step on mine somehow. There were only 2 or 3 threads at the top of the housing and the tap started cutting after a couple of turns. If you are threading deeper I would supply 7/8" screws since 2 or 3 threads is marginal in my opinion.

If nothing else you might think about revising the instructions for use on the 45 degree valve. It is frustrating to anyone when you try to put something together and it does not go right. New instructions I think would help keep your customers satisfied.

After I got it mounted it worked fine and no clutch adjustment was needed.

Keep up the good work, you guys make great products.

Terry

2001 Red Coupe Bandit

Glad it worked Terry! I will be doign exactly what you are soon. I have the New 45 degree and the NX Opener