Sealing older MZX frames for the dip tank

[Atownsend]

So I have a few MZX frames we are refurbing. They are the older type with the plastic inserts and no O rings. I'm not familiar with these frames since all of our other frames use O rings. I contacted stretch devices, but they don't sell the plastic inserts anymore. A few of the inserts were damaged / lost during the refurb process... so I'm going to have to replace at least a couple of them with something. Are there any tricks to sealing these older frames? I'm thinking about replacing all of the plastic inserts with O rings, but not sure if they'll leak or not. Maybe its best to keep the factory inserts where possible. If any one has tips or suggestions for these, the feedback is much appreciated! Thanks!

[Zelko-4-EVA]

we dont have a dip tank, but ive had to replace a lot of the o rings in our MZX frames.

i bought the o rings from grainger: Round #111 Medium Hard Buna N O-Ring, 0.424" I.D., 0.63"O.D., 50PK

Item # 41UK09


i actually bought 50 packages of  the previous item that was available at the closeout price -  41 cents per package. 
 

i liked the plastic inserts a lot better, they seemed to stand up to years of use.  the o rings arent a good solution. 

[sqslabs]

We have plenty of the old MZX frames with the inserts removed and its very rare that we get one which has allowed the dip tank chemical in.

That's not to say it doesn't happen, but that its a rare enough occasion that we haven't needed a solution.

Just my experience.

[mooseman]

I Can't speak to the issue of sealing the tube ours are not we don't have any issues.

On the issue of the plastic spacers that really suck and do not hold up under bolt loads we use the rig job below  to replace the plastic spacer , damaged or just lost we have this on several frames and absolutely no issues..
Trust this makes sense, please ask any questions
mooseman

[Atownsend]

Thanks everyone for all of the helpful info / tips!

I'll probably keep using the spacers that are good and run O rings on the frames that are missing the spacers. I just didn't want to put all of these together and have every single frame leak with the plastic spacers removed.

The washer stack idea makes sense, I might have to try that!

Will pickup the O rings from Grainger this time.... I think I paid $0.25 each for my last batch of O rings from stretch devices. I love their products, but at those prices they really make it difficult for me to give them money.