Crimping hydraulic hoses at home?

[ROUSTABOUT]

Reusable ends are great if you're on somebody else's budget. Typically, a single end will cost more than a premade/ordered hose. I buy premade hoses from Surplus Center. They have great hose, and I can get it in less than a week. The shipping is reasonable as well.

My equipment had those fittings when I bought it.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Really? Does it cut cleanly through the wire weave?

Yep, you have to hit it with the intent of cutting it in two. No weak sister type axe swinging will be tolerated.

 

[scootr]

Yep, you have to hit it with the intent of cutting it in two. No weak sister type axe swinging will be tolerated.

lol
Needs to be sharp too!

 

[rScotty]

Interesting perspective. Can you cite any gov. building or industrial code that supports that? Reason I ask is that before I retired, I worked for USPS in a medium sized mail processing facility. They use a *lot* of air for all sorts of stuff in those facilities. About 15 years ago, they replaced the compressor (new one was, IIRC, a 50 HP screw compressor) and all the corroding black iron in the building with copper; all the 'trunk' lines were 2". All the copper in the building used sweated joints. The only one that ever let go was when one of the mechanics forgot to completely depressurize the system before putting a torch to a joint to open the system to add a drop.

There was a time when USPS was exempt from things like OSHA regs, but that's long gone (I bought at auction a bunch of power tools they had to replace when the rules kicked in). I'd be amazed if the (very expensive) complete rebuild of the air system in that facility didn't comply with the most strict of industrial codes.

My question would be, what is the static pressure. In my system, it's 175 psi.

I don't know the industrial codes for compressed air. But it wouldn't surprise me if the codes are based on pressure. There are lots of uses for moderate pressure where sweated copper would be OK. After all, sweated copper is fine on domestic water lines where you have scalding hot water at fairly high psi. So it should handle at least that much air pressure.
Thicker wall schedule copper pipe joined with hard silver solder instead of lead/tin solder would withstand substantial pressures.

 

[Tinhack]

Copper pipe/tubbing is used all the time in refrigeration and air conditioning where the high side can regularly exceed 350psi.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Copper, some PEX, and black iron are suitable for air lines.

PVC and PE line is not. Both will crystallize over time and then fail catastrophically.

 

[rScotty]

Copper pipe/tubbing is used all the time in refrigeration and air conditioning where the high side can regularly exceed 350psi.

Those systems are soldered with hard solder; not lead/tin soft solder. Hard solder makes it much stronger.
Ya know, this thread got here via a comment about the safety of someone's photo of a home-built air compressor, though I don't think anyone ever mentioned what grade tubing or solder was used.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

lol
Needs to be sharp too!

Yes. My uncle was very picky about that. He never married after Vietnam. Had a woman for a long time and she died. Kept her ashes in his glove box. Lived in a tent. Every night two stray tom cats and four coons would get in that little tent with him. Hed sit out under a sycamore tree in a lawn chair. Had a saw horse, grinder, files, fish cooker. Sit right there and make beautiful knives and leather holsters. Would send knives off to Houston to be put through a cryogenic freeze. He was an odd critter, but I loved him. Died a couple years ago. Men would want ten knives at a time to take on big hunting trips as gifts. A couple of those fellows have TV shows. He had me driving a standard transmission at eight years old. Take me three miles down in the woods to a fishing hole and leave me there all week until Friday. No cell phones or help back then. He worked for Cummins in Shreveport, on North Market St. I was way out on bodcau between Louisiana Downs and bodcau dam at the alligator pond. It's a big natural lake in the woods. Bodcau Lake is how it is on maps.

 

[5030]

Back on track, I cannot see purchasing the required crimping dies or building a crimping stand when Parker Hannifin or Motion industries will not only cut cut custom hose lengths but apply crimp fittings, while you wait..

 

[scootr]

Back on track. I started this because my friend was gifted a crimp machine with no fittings. We want to make and modify (cut in two add a valve in line ont on the end because Chinese fittings ugh!) hoses. I bought a couple of sample ends from surplus and eventually we should get to it. lol