Anyone Know About Swedgelok Fittings?

[jbwelda]

a recent article in a recent issue of a similar magazine to our hosts featured a car in which the builder said his velocity stacks were Swagelok plumbing 1/16" fasteners. they look really cool so i figured i would find some at home depot or somewhere to use.

no such luck there barney. and in fact a search on the net reveals just a bunch of contradictory baloney near as i can tell and circular links. after a frustrating hour of looking around i am no closer to having some than i was before. that includes numerous visits to the swagelok site itself and to the site of their closest authorized supplier, some 70 miles away in oakland california.

these were in an article about a pair of cobras by the way in the feb 2010 issue of a publication that used to be enthusiastic. take a look, they really do look convincing.

so my question is, anyone know where to get these, in person or over the net, preferably with a minimum of engineering drawings and links that seem to go nowhere? i am resigned to probably having to buy 50 or so which would probably prove to be a lifetime supply.

any directions appreciated. ive already gone to a napa auto store (dude looked at me with a blank stare, nice tats though you fool), a plumbing supply house (they had heard of the brand but other than that werent much help), home depot (typically hopeless for anything other than lowest common denominator im afraid)...

thanks in advance!

[LDO]

Could you be more specific? Swagelok's site lists 7937 products under "fittings".

[Eric Stone]

It sounds like you were looking at ferrules, although I haven't seen the article and don't know exactly what little bits you're referring to. Is it like the little piece in the top center of this pic?

The closest thing I can think of that would look like a velocity stack would be a ferrule, which is the round sorta cone-shaped machined brass or stainless piece that has a straight-through hole through the center like in the pic. They are used to seal a nut to a tube or line so that a fitting an be attached. In my last job, we used a ton of them, and I looked hard at them to figure out what they'd be good for for modeling, and I figured the best thing would be a velocity stack, but they always seemed too big to me. I don't work there anymore, so I can't snag any for you... I thought I had seen some at some of the big box home improvement stores, but I think they are bigger, for plumbing. I can't remember what size we used most often, maybe 3/8". Actually, there might be a few floating around my current office... Let me check on that for you, if that's what you're looking for in the pic.

[my80malibu]

I used to use that brand of fitting when I was working on CNG car and trucks Swagelok's are for stainless steel lines for high pressure gas so you might try an Oxygen supplier or maybe a place that deals with gases.

[LDO]

No one is going to sell the ferrules by themselves. I suspect that by the time you buy 8-12 fittings, you could have used that money on cnc-machined scale velocity stacks. The guy who used them on a model probably had access to old fittings that were getting thrown away.

[dwc43]

There's a real easy way to make your own. Get some aluminum tubing in the correct size and put it in a flare tool used for making fuel lines with fittings and such. I have two of them. A single flair would look just like the opening of a velocity stack and then you could cut them off to the length you want. Just don't use the second part of the tool that is used to make the double flare.

Here's a link to one of the tools, but you can find them much cheaper than this if you look for them. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/OTC-4503/?rtype=10

Here's one that is only 9 bucks, but might not go small enough. Not sure, you be the judge.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=5969

[jbwelda]

>Could you be more specific? Swagelok's site lists 7937 products under "fittings".

yes that was my point precisely. thank you.

[jbwelda]

thanks for the tutorial; i already know how to make them but these looked nice out of the bag so to speak so i am tempted to grab some for quick and easy use.

i had noticed that ferrell and it does look like those might work, if they supplied them small enough. but the ones in the article were more velocity stack ish. the ferrels look like they would work but they arent whats shown in the photos i am seeing.

now my80malibu you might well be on to something there. the article does say they are for "gas". originally i assumed natural gas/propane for the home since it also mentioned "plumbing". then i thought maybe they meant for auto gasoline fuel lines. but now combustable gas like CNG might be exactly what they are talking about.

i wish i had a photo because i think many would agree they look darn cool for something you dont have to fool around with.

this could sort of turn into a rant really; i love it when article writers refer to some obscure doodad as if its something everyone has innate knowledge of! on the other hand, once i find out what they are for and where to get them, im not likely to forget!

many thanks everyone and keep any suggestions, especially links to easy ordering, coming!

[Eric Stone]

No one is going to sell the ferrules by themselves. I suspect that by the time you buy 8-12 fittings, you could have used that money on cnc-machined scale velocity stacks. The guy who used them on a model probably had access to old fittings that were getting thrown away.

We bought them all the time on a little spindle of ten ferrules at my old job. When attaching fittings with nuts to a teflon, tygon, or nylon line, the ferrules are the only part that couldn't be reused, so we kept a lot on hand. I'm not sure where we got them, since the main office did the purchasing, and they were shipped to us.

But it looks like the part I was thinking of isn't the right part anyway.

Do you have a Grainger location near you? They sell all sorts of odd-ball fittings and valves, among other things.

[lordairgtar]

You can try any supplier to the hydraulic/gas/electronics trade. We've used Swedgelok bits in our plant for some projects. Get to know someone in that industry and see if their purchaser can get samples sent to you. Sometimes it works if you need a small batch of something.

http://www.swagelok.com/search/find_products_home.aspx?SEARCH=/id-10002605/type-1

They do sell the spares.

Edited January 16, 2010 by lordairgtar

[Guest promodmerc]

I believe this is what you are looking for.

http://www.swagelok.com/search/product_detail.aspx?part=SS-100-SET

The ones used on that AC Cobra in SAE are definitely stainless steel.

[jbwelda]

many thanks folks, for all the leads. and yep there is (or was...i will have to check if they are still around) Graingers in town. i will try the links first but its always good to be reminded of places like graingers. sacramento used to be full of places like that but many have disappeared over the years.

yeah i figured the stacks on the cobras were stainless.

thanks again!

[jbwelda]

so...those ferrels seem to cost...

oh...

$3.65...

EACH.

so thats roughly 30$ worth of velocity stacks on each motor.

but if you buy 100, you get about 10% discount.

huh.

where was that tutorial again?

[Ben]

The parts being described in these replies are called "compression fittings" and can be used on copper or plastic tubing. The velocity stacks on that Cobra were made using plastic line inserts. This is a tiny stainsless "tube" with a flaired end that you push into the end of a plastic air/water/etc. line so that the brass ferrule of the compression fitting is able to squeeze down on the plastic line without collapsing it. Plastic line inserts can be found at hardware stores, auto parts stores, etc. You can buy them in little packs by themselves and they are very cheap. There are many companies that make them, not just Swedgelock. All you have to do is find a sales person that knows about plastic air or water lines and tell them your looking for plastic line inserts.

[jbwelda]

thanks again for all the info!

[Helipilot16]

Allied Electronics sells what you are looking for in several different diameters and length. Go here: http://www.alliedelec.com/connectors-wire-cable/crimp-terminals-lugs-and-wire-nuts/

[Helipilot16]

BTW, the prices you will see on this site are for a package of either 25/50/100, which makes them pretty cheap. Buy the uninsulated ones and save yourself some money and time stripping them.

[seeker589]

These look very close:

The link directly to the item:

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=5025262

I was thinking the same thing about those stacks - but I'm not heavy into building right now and they could get lost in my impending move. I'll have to try to remember them when I start building more heavily.

[Eric Stone]

These look very close:

Ah, definitely not the ferrules I was thinking they may have been...

[Ben]

These look very close:

The link directly to the item:

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=5025262

I was thinking the same thing about those stacks - but I'm not heavy into building right now and they could get lost in my impending move. I'll have to try to remember them when I start building more heavily.

Those are actually "crush ferrules" that are put on the end of wires when inserting them into terminal strips. I use them every day. They will work for models but they are aluminum, not stainless. The plastic line inserts are stainless and much more shiny.

[jbwelda]

well thanks everyone but now i fear this is going way off target because those look more like fuel injection tubes than velocity stacks for weber carbs, and i cant really find much in that electronics site that would fit what the original interest was.

anyway havent checked out the line connectors yet so maybe but i am still puzzled why in the original magazine article i referenced, the author specifies swadgelok fittings and further claims he loves when he finds *cheap* modeling solutions.

at 3.65 apiece there is something wrong there. maybe the price i found is for 10 or something (it says "1" but it may be one bag of x individual parts), so i think im going to continue investigation in that direction too...

i guess i could go try to contact the mags editor or the author but i dont think i really want to bother with resurrecting my account over there.

thanks again folks!