Turbinaire HVLP Quick Disconnects?

[Matt Meiser]

I have an older generation Turbinaire Mini-Pro HVLP system I bought from a friend. It came with the short high-temp whip hose and a longer, lighter duty hose. The gun and one end of the lighter duty hose have quick connects. The whip hose and long hose join with a threaded fitting. I'd love to find a quick connect set to join those two. Looking at Turnbinaire's site, it appears they only sell the female quick connect as an accessory.

The connection isn't anything I'm familiar with. Its similar in concept to a garden hose fitting, but definitely not the same thread. I don't care if its compatible with the quick connect on the gun end since I'd never connect the two. Any ideas?

I plan to call Turbinaire today, but figure someone's bound to have run into this.

[Jamie Buxton]

The long hose on my Accuspray looks exactly like garden hose, so I think you could use garden hose fittings. I've seen quick connects for garden hoses -- for instance http://www.garrettwade.com/quick-change-set-4/p/62K13.10/

[Matt Meiser]

These definitely aren't garden hose--I grabbed a hose and tried. It appears that Turbinaire originally used some other fitting type, then later switched to garden hose threads like others later on. I'd probably settle for buying an adapter from their thread to GH and buying a new hose since mine is rather stiff compared to some I've seen--If I can figure out where to buy such an adapter. I did find one that goes the "wrong" way on one distributor site.

I did check and the quick connect on my gun is compatible with the garden hose quick connects I have on my garden hose.

[Don Selke]

Matt:
Check out Gleem paint and click on there HVLP parts for turbins and HVLP guns. I am not sure about your thread configuration on your turbin but Gleem sells both the female and male quick connects. If you call them, they are great people to deal with and may be able to help you or direct you to another supplier.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, after some non-returned phone calls an a lot of searching I found:

- According to a retailer I spoke with, Turbinaire went through bankruptcy and was shut down for a period of time due to Canadian bankruptcy laws but they are back in business.
- They do have a quick connect set that will do exactly what I need. I've got one ordered and he confirmed that they have it.
- The thread on my unit is in fact proprietary. There is (was?) and adapter I could screw on the front of my turbine and adapt to garden thread. The vendor is out of it, but checking to see if he can get me one. This is my long-term safety net since it will allow me to use anyone's hoses.
- My older gun has been discontinued. Only maintenance parts are available, but no repair parts. If I break my gun, I'll have to replace it with someone elses gun.
- They sell a blowoff valve that would allow my turbine to run a non-bleeder gun.

[Matt Meiser]

Got my parts today from ToolCenter.com and the quick coupler works like a charm. Its "backwards" as the male is on the turbine-side and female on the gun side but it will do what I need. Still waiting for them to get back to me about the thread adapter. They are in MA though so they might have other things on their mind this week between the earthquake and hurricane.

I'm pretty unimpressed with Apollo and Turbinaire. Apollo lists a number of Turbinaire-compatible parts on their web site and says to call for more information, but they don't answer their phone or return calls. Same goes for Turbinaire. I'll keep that in mind if I ever choose to buy a newer gun. I also found that southern-tool lists the adapter online, but they won't sell it to me unless I spend $50 with them. And if I don't spend $100, they'll charge me an extra $10. And shipping is above that. Gee, thanks. I bet I could find a local hobby machinist who'd make me one for that.