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I’d like to install fixed airline pipework, terminating in quick release sockets (to feed tools etc), so trying to find the kit for sale... however what’s it called? My searches are drawing blanks.
I need:
- Solid pipe (don’t know if it’s usually steel or copper?)
- Surface mount 3/8 unions, to fit PCL connectors
- Mounting hardware
...but what is the terminology I should be searching for?
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Ritchie
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 771 
Club RR Member Number: 12
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I had a quick hunt and found this - www.pipefittingsdirect.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d29.htmlIf you are going to use malleable iron pipework which is pretty commonly used and the best option you will have to thread the ends with an NPT die and get the appropriate unions. 1/2" pipe is what would normally be used, or bigger. Some parts here - www.airsupplies.co.uk/pneumatic-fittings-and-accessories/malleable-fittingsIt will probably be easier if you use nylon pipe with push fit connectors, but as most push fit connectors only go up to 16mm it really depends on how much air you are going to use. PCL Connectors are also NPT so you will be looking for a 3/8" or 1/4" NPT adaptor to whatever size fitting you have on the end of your pipe. Personally I would wall mount a regulator/water trap at the end of the line, screw an NPT elbow into it and have the PCL going into that. If, for eg. your regulator is 1/2" NPT you would need a 1/2" Male/Female elbow, a 1/2" to 3/8" NPT reducing bush to screw into the end then the airline fitting (male) would screw into that. |
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LowStandards
Club Retro Rides Member
Club Retro Rides Member 231
Posts: 2,716
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Pretty sure there's been some dicussion on this I possibly recall blackpopracing or @grumpynorthener mentioning it before I'm sure the latter has it in his boutique restoration business premises (  ) and could also tell you about putting loops in somewhere to trap water etc (I may be talking rubbish, though i'm sure I read it) |
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Ritchie
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 771
Club RR Member Number: 12
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putting loops in somewhere to trap water etc There's plenty info on the net about adding condensation loops, I never have, but it's a good idea if you plan on doing any painting I would say. Allows the air to cool and the condensate lays at the bottom to be drained out.
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Pretty sure there's been some dicussion on this I possibly recall blackpopracing or @grumpynorthener mentioning it before I'm sure the latter has it in his boutique restoration business premises ( ) and could also tell you about putting loops in somewhere to trap water etc (I may be talking rubbish, though i'm sure I read it) You're not talking rubbish at all - well remembered - it covered here in Mark's thread for his garage build pages 12 & 13 primarily - but Mark has got some of his completed installation a few pages on forum.retro-rides.org/thread/207305/new-garage-build-thread-heating?page=12There is also a link to a online air system distributor towards the bottom of page 13 - post up any further questions that you may have and between us we will try to get them answered for you Has for the 'boutique restoration business premises'  made me splutter on my coffee - nearly covered the laptop with it |
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Last Edit: Dec 6, 2019 8:40:19 GMT by Deleted
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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I've used that pipe fittings direct before. Good prices and easy to order everything online.
Mallubale iron all the way for me. 25mm is easy enough to thread but get a proper pipe vice.
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Unless your used to using steel pipe work I wouldn't bother, you need a really good pipe vice to hold the pipe while threading and a good die set, if you don't have good biceps to start with you will when you've finished!
There is so much good plastic stuff about which is ideal, its quick clean and easy
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bricol
Part of things
Posts: 290
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If you are in the UK, BSP fittings are usually easier, and cheaper, to get hold of than NPT (American thread form).
Up to 1/4, one will screw into the other with sealant and large spanner, but above it's not that good.
I simply used nylon pipe and push fit fittings around my garage, made a simple bracket to mount a PCL socket with a male thread through, secured by screwing a female threaded fitting to butt up to the back of the bracket.
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If you are in the UK, BSP fittings are usually easier, and cheaper, to get hold of than NPT (American thread form). Up to 1/4, one will screw into the other with sealant and large spanner, but above it's not that good. I simply used nylon pipe and push fit fittings around my garage, made a simple bracket to mount a PCL socket with a male thread through, secured by screwing a female threaded fitting to butt up to the back of the bracket. The UK pipe work and fittings for gas/air/water are BSPT which is a tapered thread, the more you screw it in the tighter it gets |
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The problem with iron is it condensates/rusts.
Nylon is cheap - super fast to install & modify at a later date (you could add a T peice for a new line in under 60 seconds) and does not condensate.
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bricol
Part of things
Posts: 290
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You can get parallel too - seal with sealant, dowty washers, copper washers, o-rings etc when you don't want a seal on the threads.
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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Lots of info over on the Garage Journal, but don't mention plastic pipe - you'll melt the internet!
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport
1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport
1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2
1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome
2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily)
2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily)
2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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Thanks everyone, and for various links, I’ll do some reading up.
Nylon is probably ideal for what I need, I’d quite like to run around the garage then down to the drive and have a fitting there, as I usually work on cars at the front of the house.
Iron pipework outside is just asking for rust issues!
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bricol
Part of things
Posts: 290
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I ended up with a Hydrovane under the house, ran large bore nylon pipe under the patio/parking in the electric trunking, through a decent water separator to connect into the garage. I can isolate the garage from the hydrovane and use a smaller, noisier, piston compressor if I don't need much air.
I've a couple of extending hosereels to get air up the drive (one is a cheapo Aldi one, and it's actually quite good - aligns the hose properly as it reels back in) or a couple of large bore reinforced PVC hose - which also allow me to get good air direct from the hydrovane to a blasting cabinet in the shed.
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Just a follow-up post.
This job has been put on the ‘warmer weather / when I have time’ list. Finally got around to ordering a 2-bay 15mm kit from Pipe Fittings Direct yesterday, as well as a few extra fittings and an extra length of pipe.
It arrived today (impressive!), and I installed it after work tonight.
I’ve now got a PCL connection on the wall near the bench in my garage, and another on the gatepost at the back of my drive (under a carport, so won’t see too much weather).
All in very happy with it, good kit and great service.
Only suggestion for anyone else buying this, is that the supplied flexi for the compressor input is only 30cm long, and comes with a 1/2” thread to ~12mm OD fitting, which is smooth, like its intended to go into a push-fit fitting. No use for connecting to a compressor.
Instead I ordered a 1/2” to 8mm barbed hose connector, and cut an existing hose down to attach to that with a jubilee clip, and the other end into the compressor outlet. Works fine.
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Some good information here. I'm about to start an installation in my classroom as we've just obtained a Sealey sandblasting cabinet and I've spent the last couple of weeks between lessons benching out the one side of the room.
I've got a couple of big compressors plumbed together in a cupboard in the next room (done before I started) that feed the tyre machine in my room via a rubber pipe going through a hole in the wall.
What I want to do is put a condensation loop in, then tee off this pipe so one side goes to the tyre machine and the other side goes down the wall to another tee to the sand blaster and on to the retractable reel that would be used for the impact gun, chisel, punch/joggler etc.
As recommended above, I'm planning on nylon pipe but wondering on size. Will 15mm be OK or do I need bigger? As for water traps and drain offs,am I right in thinking I need a tap at the bottom of the loop and traps at the tyre machine, sand blaster and reel?
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1968 Cal Look Beetle - 2007cc motor - 14.45@93mph in full street trim
1970-ish Karmann Beetle cabriolet - project soon to be re-started.
1986 Scirocco - big plans, one day!
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Go for copper fittings and pipe work with soldered connections. No rust. No scale,and all easy to do with a bit of lateral thinking. As soon as the mezzanine floor I am busy with is done and all the car bits are upstairs, the next on the list to do is the airlines. I need good, dry air for a number of things, the plasma cutter being one, and the laser cutter even more so. Will document it all in my build thread in a Readers rides. No machining required, all off the shelf items and seeing I am tight, as cheap as I can do I it....🤣
I have a good design to get rid of water in the lines,and will document all the bits used and where to get them 😊
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Last Edit: May 2, 2020 18:15:48 GMT by Deleted
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Johnny, I will wait and watch with interest!
Copper was one thought I'd had, but I liked the idea of nylon being easy to modify if I get more kit, a plasma cutter being top of my list. I told the head at school that next time they're in Aldi cheap, I'd be late into school because I'm getting one on my way in. He told me that it would omly be OK if I picked up one for him too...
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1968 Cal Look Beetle - 2007cc motor - 14.45@93mph in full street trim
1970-ish Karmann Beetle cabriolet - project soon to be re-started.
1986 Scirocco - big plans, one day!
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Copper is far more expensive and time consuming to fit though. The nylon pipe is brilliant stuff and can be dissassembled/reassembled/used elsewhere easily. It also does not leak or sweat inside the pipe.
15mm will be fine for the main loop - remember the bottlneck is the 6mm PCL fitting.
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I avoid push-fit pipework carrying water in my house, because of the mess it can cause if a joint fails.
For air in a workshop, a joint failure would just be a temporary nuisance.
That (unlikely) problem is significantly outweighed by the speed and convenience of fitting plastic pipework and ease of making future changes. Also it doesn’t attract condensation, which in a bonus.
I’m pleased with the improved airflow with 15mm pipe over a long hose I was using before, even with a PCL fittings on the short hose from the compressor into the fixed pipework, and again at the tool end.
22mm would be even better- if you have high consumption items it may be sensible.
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) and could also tell you about putting loops in somewhere to trap water etc (I may be talking rubbish, though i'm sure I read it)
