Aloha from Hawaii.....I purchased a used SCMI Record 125 about 6 months ago. I have been pleasantly surprised at how well the transition has gone, and am now pretty dependent on our CNC running to keep jobs moving in the shop. About a month ago one of our vacuum pumps, Ritschle VTB 250, started to make a horrific noise and stopped producing vacuum. I took it apart and saw that the vanes had broken apart and needed replacement. I knew this was inevitable, and is a fairly normal occurrence when the vanes get worn. I ordered new vanes, cleaned out the machine very well and reinstalled the new vanes, pretty simple process. I was very careful to get all the rubbish out of the machine, and also to put the bevel on the vanes, in the correct direction. When I started the pump up again, it sounded great and ran for about 30 minutes, then the horrific noise returned, and the pump stopped producing vacuum. Thinking I had screwed up the install, I called the reps, talked to them and they assured me I did everything correctly. I repeated the process again, taking extra extra extra care to make sure every spec of dust was out of the machine. I also inspected the outer rim of the cylinder for any burrs or grooves and it appears nice and clean. Long story short, I changed out the vanes again and the same thing happened. Well, that's $3000.00 down the tubes in a matter of minutes. Soooooo I bit the bullet and sent the pump back to the manufacture to have it inspected and new vanes put in. Being in Hawaii, that's a 5-6 week process, not to mention the huge shipping bill, oh well, cannot be helped right? So, for the last 3 weeks , we have been getting by with the second pump, same model, and everything was fine. Well, you guessed it, today it went kapooi too. My question is this, when the vanes in a pump finally are worn out, is it normal for them to break apart, chip etc. Or do they just slowly wear down to the point that there is nothing left. In this case, the vanes all were chipped and cracked, and pretty much broken apart. Now of course I am dead in the water and need to get up and running as soon as possible. The first pump probably wont be back for another 2-3 weeks at the earliest. I could order new vanes, over night them, and be back in business in a few days, but it is another $1500.00 experiment. My understanding is that replacing vanes is fairly simple, should be able to replace them on site. Is there any one out there who can give me some advice, or share your experience with me. Maybe there is some simple thing I am over looking that I could do differently that would result in a better outcome......Help!!