Anyone know about air compressor fittings please

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

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Hi all

I have a DIY 8 bar home compressor which has an orange spiral hose with quick release connectors either end. The male end goes to the compressor and the female end to the tools.

I have bought a small Clarke sandblasting gun and a Draper moisture removal unit. The sandblasting gun has a 1/4" bsp threaded male end, and the Draper unit has a 1/4" threaded bsp female inlet and the same for the outlet.

Obviously I need to connect it all together.

Any ideas what fittings I need please?

PXL-20251011-173056984.jpg
 
You're going to need to mount the moisture trap vertically, so you'll need an airline from the compressor to the moisture trap, and then from the moisture trap to the sand blaster. You could, in theory, connect the moisture trap directly to the outlet on your compressor and then the hose into that, then the other end of the hose into the blaster.
What connector has the compressor got? Can you get a better pic of the connector on the gun? (Which I assume goes into the fitting on the end of the hose)
 

Air Line Hose Fitting Connector Quick Release 1/4 Male Thread 5pk FT10 by AB Tools : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Shop Air Line Hose Fitting Connector Quick Release 1/4 Male Thread 5pk FT10 by AB Tools. Free delivery on eligible orders of £20 or more.
www.amazon.co.uk

Or the stubby versions depending on the length of the connector on the hose.
You can use the same connectors with some jubilee clamps and fit the water trap inline, although not ideal as it’s coiled.
Personally I’d buy a short length of airline and run it from the compressor to the wall mount trap then use a quick connector from that to the coiled hose.
Put “air gun fittings” into Amazon and everything is there.
 
haaammit said:
What connector has the compressor got?
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A female quick release. The orange spiral hose connects directly into it.
haaammit said:
Can you get a better pic of the connector on the gun? (Which I assume goes into the fitting on the end of the hose)
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It's a threaded male fitting on the gun, so doesn't fit into the spiral hose currently. Id need to convert the male thread to a quick release.

I agree it would be better to have the moisture trap at the compressor end permanently attached. If it's anywhere else it will dangle, bash against things and not be vertical.
 
JonRGV250 said:
My air gun and airline..



It couldn't be easier.
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PCL fittings, its what we use at work. There is a smaller version, which I cant remember the name of as well.

You want it on a quick release as then the hose is able to swivel and you dont get yourself tangled up in it like a pressure washer hose :cry:

The moisture trap wants to be before the orange hose.
 
JonRGV250 said:
It couldn't be easier.
Click to expand...
I disagree. Im struggling to know whether I need BSP tapered or parallel threaded fittings. The ones on the Clarke sandblasting gun look parallel to me, but there's no washer and google says parallel threads have a washer to seal.

And the Draper unit simply says 1/4" BSP for the thread, doesn't specify tapered or not.

I think I have the XF type of quick connector. But the website listed above says XF has a larger nominal bore, and the bore on the one I have has been measured at c6mm which doesn't match the specification.

Also just offering the Draper unit up to the compressor outlet, it doesn't fit perfectly vertical as the tank gets in the way. Will I need some sort of solid extension piece to move the fitting further away from the unit?
 
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danlightbulb said:
I disagree. Im struggling to know whether I need BSP tapered or parallel threaded fittings. The ones on the Clarke sandblasting gun look parallel to me, but there's no washer and google says parallel threads have a washer to seal.

And the Draper unit simply says 1/4" BSP for the thread, doesn't specify tapered or not.

I think I have the XF type of quick connector. But the website listed above says XF has a larger nominal bore, and the bore on the one I have has been measured at c6mm which doesn't match the specification.

Also just offering the Draper unit up to the compressor outlet, it doesn't fit perfectly vertical as the tank gets in the way. Will I need some sort of solid extension piece to move the fitting further away from the unit?
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Nothing a roll of PTFE tape won't fix ...... :cry:
 
It’s probably parallel if it just states BSP.

You could get a short nipple for the trap to take it away and just tighten it enough to get it in the vertical.

As mentioned above PTFE can deal with all manner of sin.
 
Ordered this collection of bits from Screwfix, hopefully all compatible.

5588H x 1 PCL XF Female Adaptor Plug 1/4" x 1/4" £2.29
2015H x 1 PCL AA7102 XF Male Adaptor Plug 1/4" x 1/4" £2.29
22149 x 1 Flomasta Hexagon Nipple 1/4" x £1.29
77539 x 1 Essentials Female Socket 1/4" x 1/4" £1.49
463KP x 1 PCL AC71CM XF Male Coupling Socket 1/4" £7.69


I broke one of my original compressor accessories. I thought I could get the quick release connector off to attach it to the new tool, but it was on rock solid, ended up snapping the accessory trying to put force into the fitting to get it off with a spanner.
 
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Should be fitted in this order: Compressor --> Filter --> Hose --> Tool (in this case, sandblasting gun)

How is the hose connected to the compressor? Any chance of images of the hose connecting to compressor with it disconnected and showing the "plug" side (male part) (as this will show the QRC style)


EDIT: Have a look at pages 6 and 7 of the PCL catalogue to see if you can ID your couplings and their interchangeability (PCL vs Parker Rectus etc)- https://www.pclairtechnology.com/media/assets/product/documents/PCL-product-catalogue.pdf
 
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Richie said:
How is the hose connected to the compressor? Any chance of images of the hose connecting to compressor with it both connected and disconnected (as this will show the QRC style)
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The compressor has a female quick release connector socket attached directly to it.

I'll find out tomorrow when I collect the fittings from Screwfix, whether or not its the right ones. I think its XF style.

Im a bit concerned my compressor won't be powerful enough. I don't mind working slowly and waiting for the compressor to top the tank up, as long as I can get enough power to do a small section of blasting before the juice runs out. My compressor is a Stanley 8 bar 24 litre 6 CFM model.
 
danlightbulb said:
The compressor has a female quick release connector socket attached directly to it.

I'll find out tomorrow when I collect the fittings from Screwfix, whether or not its the right ones. I think its XF style.
Click to expand...

If it doesnt fit - show us the QRC plug end (the male part) as this will show the profile

danlightbulb said:
Im a bit concerned my compressor won't be powerful enough. I don't mind working slowly and waiting for the compressor to top the tank up, as long as I can get enough power to do a small section of blasting before the juice runs out. My compressor is a Stanley 8 bar 24 litre 6 CFM model.
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You will have the pressure (8 Bar). The bit to look at is the CFM - What is the flowrate required by the tool you are using?
 
Richie said:
You will have the pressure (8 Bar). The bit to look at is the CFM - What is the flowrate required by the tool you are using?
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Yeah, it says 20 cfm, but that's crazy because that's pro level flow rate, you can't get home compressors at that power, needs 3 phase for that.

You can get 14-15 cfm ones, mine is only 6 though.

If I can get 10 second bursts it could be enough, the area I need to do isn't massive.

Cant seem to hire decent size compressors either.
 
Without going crazy on cost, the best high flow models I can see are these:

Clarke 50 litre 16.9 CFM 3.5 hp -£300: https://www.powertoolsdirect.com/cl...9cfm-50-litre-3-5hp-low-noise-compressor-230v
reduced from £480 which seems a good deal for quite a powerful unit.


SGS 100 litre 13.8 CFM 3 hp - £275: https://www.sgs-engineering.com/sc100v-100-litre-high-flow-air-compressor

SGS 50 litre 13.8 CFM 3hp - £210: https://www.sgs-engineering.com/sc50v-50l-compressor


I wonder if its better to have a slightly more powerful motor, but smaller tank, or less powerful motor but bigger tank.

I might be able to sell my small Stanley unit for say £70 second hand, then upgrade to one of the above. I can't go bigger, would be stupid for my infrequent use and lack of storage.
 
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Unless the CFM is a lot more, it's better to have the larger tank, if you have space

Also bear in mind that pressure capability also factors into how much volume a receiver holds. I'd rather have a smaller receiver with high pressure compressor than larger receiver with very low pressure compressor.

From the 3 you have posted, and going purely on what you have posted (so I don't know what they are like), I would tend to go for the 2nd one.

I had a quick look at No2 - the good thing is it has 13.8cfm Free Air Delivery which is what you get out the unit after losses etc... quite important you compare FAD flowrates as some places use overall CFM which doesn't take into account the losses meaning your actual flow rate is lower.

The Clarke one, for example says 16.9 CFM displacement but that may not be FAD


Edit - units 1 and 3 appear to be the same compressor, just with different sized receivers (viewing on the phone so might be missing something)
 
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Having read around the subject, I think those listed CFM/FAD figures are questionable.

The Clarke product manual for that unit lists the displacement as 480 l/min but the FAD as only 155 l/min.

The SGS one seems to mix between FAD and displacement in the description as well.

I don't think its possible to get a genuine 15 CFM FAD at normal 13A single phase domestic electrical supplies.
 
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