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Re: CO2 Needle Valves


Stephen Pushak <Stephen.Pushak at saudan_HAC.COM> writes:
>I've got the CO2 bottle, I've got a good regulator. Now I need to
>find a reasonably priced needle valve.
>I haven't been able to find the ARO model N01 which is mentioned in the
>FAQ.

I recently got my needle valve, regulator, et. al. via the advice in the
FAQ.

First off, I can't understand why you can't find this valve?  Could they
not tell you a [remotely] close distributor, or what?  Could it be that
you just called on a day when they weren't there?  [[They are on CST, BTW]]

But assuming you get that taken care of, there's some other stuff you
ought to know that, unfortunately, is not included in the FAQ.  I've
been planning on adding an addendum to that part of the FAQ, and, although
my saga is not yet complete, I can offer up this much of it (which doesn't
include my attempts at automated CO2.)


Life After You Get Your Needle Valve
------------------------------------

  Trouble is, the fittings on the regulator don't just screw right into
the needle valve.  Usually (I think), regulators come with an output
adapter for welding equipment.  The output threads of that only work
with odd bits of welding equipment.  The needle valve and also the
solenoid, if you go that far, are threaded for 1/8" NPT -- NPT stands
for National Pipe Thread, which is a US standard for pipe threading.
So your first obstacle is to adapt the regulator to the needle valve.
My regulator, like most others, I think, has this adapter for welding
equipment, but if you take that guy off, you get 1/4" NPT.  It was no
small effort to get this adapter off, but I did it with a big honkin'
wrench, a vice, and much elbow grease.  It's absolutely crucial that
you ask the guy you buy the regulator from how the regulator can be
adapted to "NPT" piping - it's probably going to be a deal like mine,
but you need to be sure so that you don't do something you can't undo.

  Now, assuming you've got the NPT output from your regulator, you need
to get yourself an adapter.  In my case, the adapter is a "1/4inch to
1/8inch male-to-male NPT adapter."  Not to daunt anybody, but aquiring
such an adapter can be about as hard as getting the needle valve.
But if the local supplier for the needle valve doesn't have these
doo-dads, they probably know who does.  (In my case I got the needle
valves from a company called "Bearings, Inc.", and the adapters (yes,
the plural is, sadly, correct), from "River City Air & Hydraulic".)

  Assuming you get your regulator connected to your needle valve, your
next step is to get your needle valve connected to your plastic-air-line-
tubing.  This is simple if you know the code words: "Hose-Barb".
You'll want a '1/8" NPT hose-barb adapter.'

  A word about connections:  First, don't use "Teflon Tape" for CO2
connections.  My welding supplier says the best thing to do is just
screw everything together real tight.  And he means "real tight" too.
From what I can see, his definition of "real tight" is to get it as
tight as you think you can get it, and then give it another turn.
[[ This is a good occasion to visit your ex-marine neighbor... ]]

  A word about pricing:  happily, these adapters are cheap.  My bill
for the 1/4"-1/8" adapter, the hose-barb, and an 1/8"-1/8" adapter
to connect up my solenoid, came to US$5.02.

  Now, if you go for the solenoid, there's more to the story, but I haven't
figured that part of the story out completely so you'll have to wait
for the paperback, as it were :-]

  And by the way, Gary Bishop mentioned to me that there exist such things
as "air-gap" Ph probes and "Amplified" Ph probes.  Does anybody know where
stuff like this can be found or more about what it is about?

                                        - Steve
------
Steve Benz (steveb at realtime_net)   |   Pragma Systems, Inc.
Author of ZipPiz, a Windows utility for unpacking downloaded archives.
http://www.ccsi.com/~pragma/zippiz.html | ftp://ftp.ccsi.com/pub/pragma