Air Fittings

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mopowers

mopowers

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Do you guys use high-flow air fittings on your air system? I'm wondering if they're a worthy investment for some tools like hvlp spray guns and such.
 
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I switched over to the purple fittings for 1/4” stuff.
I barely notice a difference except I could be imagining this but I get less moisture out of the high speed tools like die grinders or wizzer wheels than before.
But not more performance.
I like the quick connect action also and they make my professional shop and home shop look a tad cooler. And the standard I/m fittings still work with the purple couplers for the stuff I forgot to convert.
 
I also have the purple fitting, but with much use be aware there aluminum they are soft and get damaged easy. Had to replace couple of them.
 
I dunno anything about "purple" fittings but t use a Milton P style. The typical standard ones are Milton M style.
The butt of the "m" fittings will fit in the end of the P fittings and yes I definitely noticed a huge difference in power especially on things like my impact wrench. Not so sure it would be any effect on something like a spray gun. The only thing is the bigger longer fittings can be a little unwieldy in tight quarters.
 
I used to have 2 jobs.
I had tools at both.
I had 2 of the same snap on impact guns / one at each job.
I had to send the one I had at Sears auto center in for repair, so I had to bring the one from the other job with me for a couple of weeks back n forth while I waited for the one to get returned from repair.
The 2 shops used different air fittings.
One day I was quite surprised at the "balls" my impact had at one job and how weak it seemed at the other shop. They both ran the same pressure so I knew it wasn't that. It was the difference in inside diameter of the air fittings that was the difference in how well my impact worked (or didn't)
I used to do a lot of front end/suspension work. So I needed a strong impact. I did a set of struts at my day job and the gun didn't blink, got the strut to knuckle bolts loose without breaking a sweat. .
I brought that gun down to my sears job and had to replace some struts there on a different car and my impact wouldn't touch the bolts that held the struts to the knuckle on that car. The only thing different was that I had to swap fittings in my gun from day job to 2nd job
 
mopowers said:
Do you guys use high-flow air fittings on your air system? I'm wondering if they're a worthy investment for some tools like hvlp spray guns and such.
Click to expand...
I'd like to see some real data on how much they actually increase flow. The diameter and length of the feed pipes are a much bigger concern than 1 1/2" of reduced diameter at the coupling. Have you ever looked inside a ball valve? The opening is fairly smaller than the size of the pipe but because it is short in length, it doesn't have a significant effect on flow.
 
I swapped over to high-flow fittings when I painted my car a few years ago. The first time I used the 1/2" impact I definitely noticed it had more power. I don't remember where I got the fittings that I used or what brand.
 
Oh yeah it would.
And my experience listed above would be more like a "butt Dyno" vs a chassis Dyno on your cars ... Yeah air hose diameter also plays a part, but in order to compensate for small diameter fittings pressure has to be increased. Same gun, same pressure, same fasteners only different fittings. I have the same thing at my current job vs at home because I changed my at home fittings to the same as my old job that had the big fittings so I could bring tools back n forth between work and home without having to scrounge for the right fitting for where I'm at, and swap them out constantly. That's a pain. Then I go to work somewhere else that has the old standby Milton M fittings and im back to swapping out fitting between work and home.... .it's not as often now though/ as I don't have 2 jobs anymore so most of what I had when I did can stay home now.
 
Years ago I thought I was tired of going under the house 2x a year to turn on the outside water in spring and off In the fall so the pipes wouldn't freeze.
I put the spigots in the outside of the house that were "freeze proof".
We then had an unusually hot dry summer, where I had to run the sprinklers.
It took me a bit to figure out why I couldn't run a "y" and 2 sprinklers off of each spigot. There was nowhere near enough flow. I went back to standard spigots and turning the water in and off seasonally and no more issues with lack of flow. My power washer also works so much better now than it did while I had those other style of spigots on the house
 
Thanks guys. All my stuff is mismatched right now (some automotive fittings, some M-type, etc.) and since I'm getting ready to do some painting in the near future, I figured it was a good time to make all my fittings match and upgrade to the hi-flow versions for some of the tools. I also just drilled out the several 1/4" hose barbs and pipe fittings between the compressor and hose real to 5/16" too. Just need to order up come couplers and a load of fittings.
 
A lot of this can also depend on.............

Whether your compressor runs "towards high" or "towards low" on the pressure end, or sags a lot before the switch cuts in

Whether your hose is real true 3/8 or some of the cheap stuff is actually closer to 5/16. And, the internal hose liner if it's rough can matter.

AND HOW LONG your hoses are

Of course the size of piping, if it's marginal. There are some commercial "piping" kits out that use proprietary non metallic piping that is quite small ID

I have a big ol HUGE I/R 3/4 impact that comes out when something is really really tight, and for that I've got enough 1/2" HALF inch hose to reach from the garage to the front street!!. I often use a piece of it with a shorter length of 3/8 from there to the tool On a tool that is an air hog, or an impact, it can make a difference.

Most of my couplers are old Hansen Milton 1/4" the stuff for the 1/2" hose and 3/4 impact is larger
 
And this is why I'm going to high flow fittings:

High-Flow-Plug-Opening.jpg

1684077791985.png
 
Milton V-style fittings are the highest-flowing normal-sized air fittings available. I went from M-style to V and noticed a significant improvement. I've had two shops convert from M- and A-style based on using mine, as have a couple of my friends. If memory serves, they even outflow the massive P-style, etc. As a bonus, you can still use your tools equipped with the older M-/A-/T-style plugs until you get around to upgrading those.
They're available as the "purple" fittings you see mentioned above, but I'd avoid those for durability reasons. They're also available in steel and brass with the same performance but much longer life.
 
6PakBee said:
toolguyd.com

A Quick Guide to Air Line Couplers and Plugs

Confused by all the different types of air line plugs and couplers? Here’s a look at the most popular types.
toolguyd.com toolguyd.com
Click to expand...
I know what air fittings are, I've never heard them called "C" fittings. Lincoln, Hansen-Milton or Industrial Interchange, Truflate, or Aero Speed.

I see that a couple of those are known by more than one code letter. If they can't be standardized as to a code, why try to do that at all?

"Above is an industrial style plug. They can be called by a few different names. For instance, this can be also be called a Milton plug, but more correctly it is Milton M-style. It is also known as type D or I/M style.


To make it even more confusing, Milton has a D-style plug, but that isn’t necessarily compatible with this style."

And even the one you pointed out.............

"Above is an automotive style plug: Also know as a Truflate, Type T, or C-style."

Why not just call it what it is.........A Truflate style coupler

We sold Aero and Truflate products back when they WERE, along with Lincoln which back then made all kinds of grease/ lube equipment.
 
67Dart273 said:
I know what air fittings are, I've never heard them called "C" fittings. Lincoln, Hansen-Milton or Industrial Interchange, Truflate, or Aero Speed.

I see that a couple of those are known by more than one code letter. If they can't be standardized as to a code, why try to do that at all?

"Above is an industrial style plug. They can be called by a few different names. For instance, this can be also be called a Milton plug, but more correctly it is Milton M-style. It is also known as type D or I/M style.


To make it even more confusing, Milton has a D-style plug, but that isn’t necessarily compatible with this style."

And even the one you pointed out.............

"Above is an automotive style plug: Also know as a Truflate, Type T, or C-style."

Why not just call it what it is.........A Truflate style coupler

We sold Aero and Truflate products back when they WERE, along with Lincoln which back then made all kinds of grease/ lube equipment.
Click to expand...
You asked "what are these". I tried to answer as completely as possible. When I buy them at NAPA they are on a blister pack identified as a "C" fitting. Why do they call them that? Who turns out the light when the freezer door closes, where does the fire go when it goes out, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin......hell, I don't know. :)
 
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