I hardly ever have opinions (yeah right), but I am not a fan of teflon tape for sealing threads at all. It tends to shred and travel in the air system. Which leads to malfunction of valves such as six pack, PPV’s, and door/pottie operation. I am a fan of sealant such as Rectorseal or equivalent.
Just my .02
Craftsman friend who spent a career doing maintenance in a factory steered me to Loctite Quickstick 561 PST. I have been impressed with it. I've used lots of paste sealants, teflon etc. in pneumatics and plumbing but I'm going to have a stick of 561 with me in the Newell in the box of pneumatic fittings.
Looks like a check valve in the middle.
(Richard was probably waiting for me to post)
I prefer teflon tape for a couple reasons: if applied properly, meaning no tape across the face of the pipe or fitting, it can't allow any pieces to enter the piping. In order to apply it properly you need to wind it on the threads in the direction so that it tightens into the threads. If applied backwards then yes it can loosen while tightening the fitting.
The thing I don't like about teflon goop is that over years it can harden and become crumbly. I've pulled apart piping and have seen crumbly goop partially filling the pipe. Also if you try to tighten or loosen a fitting with dried goop it will leak. Tape will usually be ok since it's a solid.
So there you have it, both sides of the fence. Both solutions work so use what you're comfortable and familiar with.
BTW in almost 30 years I've never had a problem with tape if it was applied properly, this is from ounces of pressure to over 2000 psi.
Another newbie question here. Just how snug does one need to go on these brass compression fittings when tightening?
Brass to brass with teflon (either tape or goop)? snug by hand then 1/2 to 1 more turn. If brass to steel a bit more. I wish there was an adapter for a torque wrench to an open end. Maybe a crows foot on a torque wrench?
Is there seriously a better run business than McMaster-Carr? Ordered some fittings yesterday and they show up on my doorstep today. That is one well oiled machine they have over there. Now I just need to find just the right sized little divider carrier for my assortment. Right now my one big slide out tray has turned into a 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound sack situation. REALLY need to figure out how to organize what I've got in terms of spare parts, etc. Thinking about maybe one of those Milwaukee stackable packout setups so that I could at least label the outsides vs. digging for stuff. Organizing is not my strong suit.
Brad,
I brought home $400 of those Packouts and obsessed over layout in my garage for several days before taking them back. They just didn’t work for anyone of my tools and ended up warring a TON of space.
I’ve stuck with more modular bins that are so much more convenient, quick to get to, and easy to tuck in places like under the slide box in the e-bay.
At Home Depot, I found the neatest little divider bins, perfect for hardware, screws, and a small one for fittings.
P. S. Glad you liked McMaster-Carr. I, too, have been super impressed with their site, customer service, and fast delivery.
ALL,
I've had a handful of requests, and rather than send you a bunch of packing lists, I build out a cart list in McMaster-Carr and then reformatted it to a single concise list for all.
Here you go; PDF and Spreadsheet form (in case you wanna do some more things with the list.)