Replaced all of the pipes on the changer that hadnt been already replaced and got the leaks down quite a bit with that. When I first got it the compressor kicked in every 5 or 6 minutes but after replacing the pipes and the air filter/regulator/oiler it was down to every 30 mins which was not too bad. It seemed to leak a bit more on tools 4, 5 and 12 so I managed to source a couple of valves on US eBay and got them sent to Brian as Graham was across at Christmas and had kindly said he would bring them back to the UK with him. I fitted the new valves to tools 4 and 5 positions and it was just the same
So I knew it had to be inside the mounting block that all the valves and pipes fit to.
I had some spare time today so decided to have a closer look at what would be involved in removing the whole unit and saw that actually it wasnt as bad as I had first thought. Most of the pipes came out via two plates either side and they were held on with only two screws, there were another 6 pipes that were either push fit or nut fittings and then the only other thing to do was unscrew the terminal housings either side and remove the main wiring plug. Only two cap screws then held the whole block in place.
I got it removed, removed the valves and then saw the screws that held the circuit boards in place so I got the circuit boards out and thats when I noticed the whole thing was made up in layers and glued together so no real way to try and fix the remaining leaks without risking damaging it
The time was not totally wasted however as I did find the problem on the circuit board that had stopped tool 9 solenoid working, it was a bad diode so I hunted around and managed to find one in an old battery charger. Put it all back together and it works fine now so I can do away with the bypass wiring I did earlier on.
Still has the leak obviously but at least I know if it gets worse I can try and break things apart and if it crumbles I can make one up out of delrin or aluminium. I will likely try and make it bolt together and have '0' ring seals instead of glueing it. Hope it doesnt come to that though as I can put up with the compressor every 30mins
Below are a few pics, first is the unit in places, next is it off then next is with valves removed which allowed me to see the screws for the circuit boards. Last pic shows the boards and also the layered construction.
Hood