RE: Valve Source

[David_Koran at hq02.usace.army.mil]

Sandy,

There are multiple ways you can go.  In the past I have used the plastic
valves that they sell in the 5 valve kits (they also have the plastic tees
so you could make a crude gang valve) however I would drill a hole in the
1/2" CPVC pipe slightly smaller than the diameter of the plastic and use a
tap to thread the hole.  As for threading the valve I would make a "tool"
out of a small piece of CPVC that I likewise drilled and tapped and then use
that as my die to thread the valve stem.  While this doesn't guarentee a
great fit or that you would "blow out the valve", it was cheap and
functional.

Aquaculture Supply in New Orleans (http://www.aquaculture-supply.com/) has
the type of needle valve you see in "good" gange valves both in brass and
plastic.  Like above, these are needle valves but of much better quality.
You can tap them directly into the thicker 1/2 or 3/4" PVC and AS also sells
the tap and drill bit kit.  You would need a drill press system to do a good
job because the PVC can be chipped when drilling a hole this large or at
least fractured so when you use the tap you won't get a nice tapped hole
that effectively doesn't leak (this isn't a problem if you don't mind your
airline whistling!).  You can do two things, one is buy the saddles for the
valves so you glue the saddle onto the pipe over a hole or cut a strip of
pipe from the next larger size of PVC pipe and glue it onto the airline pipe
to thicken the base for the valves.

Anteleco is a supplier of drip irrigation equipment
(http://www.antelco.com/) and under the assessories they have a Vari-flow
valve that is barbed on one end to hold your airline tubing and is threaded
on the other with a standard 10-32 thread.  It is meant for low pressure
flow control (i.e., drip irrigation) but can be adapted for air control.
You can hand drill and tap 1/2" PVC and use the valves without getting very
"leaky" seals.  The only problem with these valves is they are basically
on-off valves although they have a directional indicator on the cap.  If you
are patient you can get reasonable flow control (check once your entire
manifold is operational because you may have to go back and readjust flows).
These guys are relatively cheap coming in at a little over 50 cents a valve.
The plastic needle valve from Aquaculture Supply have better control and are
about twice the price but are about 80 cents if you buy a lot of 100.

Dave Koran

-----Original Message-----
From: Sandy1238 at aol_com [mailto:Sandy1238 at aol_com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 1:15 AM
To: killietalk at AKA_Org
Subject: Valve Source


Hi,
Can anyone suggest a source of valves for an air system?
Regards,
Sandy


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