Pnuematic air line fittings?

[Harry Bloomfield]

I half remember asking this before, but I have still not managed to resolve it.

I am trying to match an air line fitting commonly used on imported air equipment that sold by the likes of Aldi, Lidle and etc.. I have already tried Thorite, Machine Mart and others which were not able to help, or even identify the fittings used. The plug has a single ring around it to retain it in the quick release socket and did manage a few years ago to get hold of one, although I cannot now remember where I got it from.

The type is almost identical to one I saw in a hardware type shop, but none the less didn't fit.

The plug looks a little like this...

----------\_____/\___ |

_____ ___|

----------/ \/

Clues please as to the name of the fitting and a possible source would be greatly appreciated. All of my garage equipment uses this fitting, so I am not keen to use any other.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

RS components have a fair range of such things - but I dunno if it has what you require. Other possibility is a decent motor factor.

[Bob Minchin]

Harry,

Have look here

21 et al.

I know the general type you mean and sometime they look like they will fit but then pop out again. I find PCL to be the most reliable but I do not that you don't want to change

[AJH]

There are two types I see commonly used on compressed air equipment, PCL and NTP quick couplers. PCL seem to dominate the trade sector and NTP the cheap hobby stuff, even though npt seem less restrictive as the cross section of the air passage is greater.

CEJN of sweden produce couplings and their 320 series female accepts the couplings that came with my cheap italian compressor.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bob Minchin pretended :

That and the series 23 look the same.

That is exactly what happened when I tried my plug in one of the similar looking connectors.

Thanks for the URL, I have written to them for help in identifying the connectors.

[Adam Aglionby]

under a fiver posted. The type you don`t want are PCL which are larger and industrial standard and price.

Adam

[Andy Hall]

I disagree.

I've used PCL throughout for my airline equipment and they work well. However, if you shop around and negotiate, you can get good pricing.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Those look identical to the type I need, but despite my plug fitting into that type of socket it doesn't latch itself. You have to really look hard to spot the slight differences between the two. At least one of the items on Ebay is marked 1/4", so I suspect the type I need is a metric version.

[Adam Aglionby]

Phrased that badly, meant that PCL are the ones that won`t mate with the OP`s fittings.

Pneumatic Components Limited , PCL, quick couplers are all have ever seen in industrial settings, believe its is actually a patent of PCL, but you get knock off PCL `compatible` couplings for less money.

Adam

[Adam Aglionby]

Is the 1/4" the hose diameter or pipe thread diameter? Also couple of them refrence NPT is this a typs of coupling or a type of thread? More confused than was when started ;-)

Thanks Adam

[Andy Hall]

Yes, I think he's describing one of the shorter, fatter types.

Exactly, and there's a bunch of those around at different levels of quality.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Hall saying something like:

I've used PCL for ages and found them to be fairly priced and reliable. The price varies depending on where you get them, of course, but a decent industrial stockist or farmers' store is ok.

[Andy Hall]

A nominal size. The threaded part is larger. Hoses can also be larger.

NPT is an American thread type

would be BSP.