TL; DR I have no issue calling these Orange Cans of Delight.
In the interest of self-education on the controversial Fram Extra Guard, I decided to butcher one (sorry 53' Stude!) to see investigate the myths for myself.
I wanted to see how tough the fiber endcaps actually hold and to see what the pleat spacing actually looked like to see which "D" should hang at the end of "OCOD" (at least in my beliefs), whether that be Death, or Delight.
The wall thickness of the case measured out to 0.016". Before cutting, it would take a considerable amount of force to dent with just my thumbs, whereas an equivalent PurolatorOne would not be that hard for me to dent with just my bare hands.
I'm pretty impressed by the pleat spacing of the media. I marked the seam as a point of reference for the different angles.
I tried to separate the media seam. It's pretty well glued together starting just over 1/8" inch into the seam. I have no issues there, either.
Now, the end caps... I will admit I was one of the ones that had been scared away from the fiber endcaps when I heard the news, but as I saw more evidence of them not actually failing here, I became more intrigued.
I think the potting material is overlooked and really takes the load. It has a similar consistency to 3M Window Weld or a similar product. I tried in a few spots to pull the endcaps away and they're sturdy. I pulled by the seam and the media tore first, so I don't think there would be any issue with the endcaps possibly breaking free over a normal OCI.
Also as reference, I did measure the thickness of the fiber endcaps and they measured to 0.025", which is roughly the same thickness as the cover of a spiral notebook, but the end caps are slightly more compliant. Again, the fiber endcaps appear to me to be more of a medium for the potting adhesive.
I have no financial ties or obligations to Fram. I purchased this filter at Walmart. Date code is A13271
If anyone wants some more details that I may have overlooked, I'll hang on to this until the end of next week before I trash it.
Hopefully this will be a smile for everyone's Monday and serve as a detailed view for someone else like me who may be curious, because as far as I'm concerned.
In the interest of self-education on the controversial Fram Extra Guard, I decided to butcher one (sorry 53' Stude!) to see investigate the myths for myself.
I wanted to see how tough the fiber endcaps actually hold and to see what the pleat spacing actually looked like to see which "D" should hang at the end of "OCOD" (at least in my beliefs), whether that be Death, or Delight.
The wall thickness of the case measured out to 0.016". Before cutting, it would take a considerable amount of force to dent with just my thumbs, whereas an equivalent PurolatorOne would not be that hard for me to dent with just my bare hands.
I'm pretty impressed by the pleat spacing of the media. I marked the seam as a point of reference for the different angles.
I tried to separate the media seam. It's pretty well glued together starting just over 1/8" inch into the seam. I have no issues there, either.
Now, the end caps... I will admit I was one of the ones that had been scared away from the fiber endcaps when I heard the news, but as I saw more evidence of them not actually failing here, I became more intrigued.
I think the potting material is overlooked and really takes the load. It has a similar consistency to 3M Window Weld or a similar product. I tried in a few spots to pull the endcaps away and they're sturdy. I pulled by the seam and the media tore first, so I don't think there would be any issue with the endcaps possibly breaking free over a normal OCI.
Also as reference, I did measure the thickness of the fiber endcaps and they measured to 0.025", which is roughly the same thickness as the cover of a spiral notebook, but the end caps are slightly more compliant. Again, the fiber endcaps appear to me to be more of a medium for the potting adhesive.
I have no financial ties or obligations to Fram. I purchased this filter at Walmart. Date code is A13271
If anyone wants some more details that I may have overlooked, I'll hang on to this until the end of next week before I trash it.
Hopefully this will be a smile for everyone's Monday and serve as a detailed view for someone else like me who may be curious, because as far as I'm concerned.
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