Whatever you do, stick with one manufacturer and style. I found out the hard way that mixing brands, even though the fittings were visually identical, gave me problems. I now buy only one type from only one source.
Charley
Whatever you do, stick with one manufacturer and style. I found out the hard way that mixing brands, even though the fittings were visually identical, gave me problems. I now buy only one type from only one source.
Charley
I've been using the ype M for 30 or more years with no complaints as long as you use a good brand of fitting. Cheapies don't last and almost always leak. The type M is the most widely used in this area too, making it easy to 'borrow' air on site.
So I ended up buying Milton type A fittings. They are push to connect, steel, look sturdy, and provide a good solid fit between coupler and plug. However, I have a leak between a female coupler and the male 1/4" NPT fitting on the hose. I brushed Oatey great white pipe joint compound on the male threads and tightened the joint moderately, but had an obvious leak. I then took the joint apart, put a heavy coat of joint compound on, and tightened the joint almost as tight as possible just using wrenches. The leak is much better but still detectable with soap suds. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here so any thoughts would be appreciated. Do I need to wait several days for the joint compound to cure? Do I need to torque the joint as tight as is humanly possible? Is it a bad coupler or pipe fitting? Thanks.
My new rapid air system instructions say to put 2 wraps of the teflon tape on your fittings, and then use the pipe dope. Could be a bad thread, most of that stuff is chinese made now, and they turn out some reject parts.
Thanks Jim. I'm slowly figuring this out. I bought some heavy duty Teflon tape (gray in color, and perhaps 2-3x as thick as the normal white stuff), and put 2-3 wraps around the male joint and then tightened it moderately. That seems to work pretty consistently for an airtight leak. However, now I'm having problems with the barbed fittings for hoses. I'm using a 3/8 fitting for a 3/8" ID rubber air hose. The barb goes in a little easier than I expected, but does take a little force to pull out. I then tighten a small wormgear clamp on the fitting until rubber starts to protrude through the worm gear slots. And sometimes that's not tight enough to prevent a slight leak. Any trick to this that I'm missing? Do I need to wrap some Teflon tape onto the barbed fitting?worm clamp.JPG
One thing you may want to look into is Oetiker style clamps and an inexpensive crimping tool. Worm clamps are just too clunky for my taste but you may not mind them. They will clean up the ends of your hoses if you have to assemble them in house.
An even better option is to find a local hydraulics shop and have them crimp standard brass ferrules on the ends for you. Its worth a few bucks.
There is no need for tape on the barb.
We use Milton "m" at work. They are very inexpensive and work well, I dont think any Milton style will serve you wrong. FWIW, the aluminum ends do wear out, but in a hobby shop it will take awhile.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
Last edited by glenn bradley; 03-02-2014 at 2:09 PM.
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