Compressed air distribution kit--any good?

Ron if you are just wanting to have air to blow stuff off around the shop it will work BUT if you want to run any air sanders or pin nailers or spray guns it will not give you enough volume of air to work. You will regret it if thats what you want to do.
 
Jay's right. The 3/8" tubing would be a limiting factor for running a variety of air tools. Plus, I'm not sure if there's enough hardware to set up one or more moisture traps, which are pretty common on long runs of air piping. Another potential problem would be getting additional fittings. Do you know if they sell individual fittings, for the case where you really need one or two more parts, and don't want to buy another $99 kit?

Also, I have no experience with this particular package of hardware, but based on past experience, I'm kind of leery of Harbor Freight air fittings and accessories. I've had two or three of their filter/dryers crack and develop leaks, and their quick disconnect fittings can be hit or miss sometimes, too. They often leak unless you wiggle them around a bit. After seeing a 6 foot length of 3/4" flex hose come loose and do the 135 psi snake dance in my shop, I'm real cautious about my air fittings now. ;)
 
Depends on what you are going to use it for and what type of compressor you have, If its just to blow off dust or run a few nailers it will work just fine. More than adequate. I don't run any air sanders or drills. Just finish nailers, brad guns, a pinner and a stick nailer. My wood shop compressor is a 1.5 hp emglo with 2 two gallon tanks. Not very big at all. It runs the tools without any problem whatsoever. I have a larger emglo compressor in my garage. 1.5 hp with twin 4 gallon tanks. I have this one bumped up to 160 psi with a 5 pound differential. It runs my air wrenches just fine. I have a hose set up in my basement very similar to the one you show. I have 3 fixed stations with 15' drop down flex hoses for the tools and it works perfectly.
As far as the moisture goes, I just keep the petcock on the tanks on the compressor slightly cracked and it keeps the moisture out of the lines. I do however use only 3/8" fittings on the 3/8" hose and fittings. I find 1/4" fittings can cause too much "stair stepping" of the nails when using the stick nailer on a long fast run.
 
Jay's right. The 3/8" tubing would be a limiting factor for running a variety of air tools. Plus, I'm not sure if there's enough hardware to set up one or more moisture traps, which are pretty common on long runs of air piping. Another potential problem would be getting additional fittings. Do you know if they sell individual fittings, for the case where you really need one or two more parts, and don't want to buy another $99 kit?

Also, I have no experience with this particular package of hardware, but based on past experience, I'm kind of leery of Harbor Freight air fittings and accessories. I've had two or three of their filter/dryers crack and develop leaks, and their quick disconnect fittings can be hit or miss sometimes, too. They often leak unless you wiggle them around a bit. After seeing a 6 foot length of 3/4" flex hose come loose and do the 135 psi snake dance in my shop, I'm real cautious about my air fittings now. ;)
Is this different than using 'regular' 3/8" hose? I'm doing some remodel work now with a framing nailer and 125' (two lengths) of what I think is 3/8" hose.
 
...The 3/8" tubing would be a limiting factor for running a variety of air tools...

Gimme a physics lesson here. :)

You say a 3/8" line isn't bige enough to carry the air, but then you'll use a quick-disconnect fitting that has a hole in it that's only about 3/16" (about ¼ the capacity of 3/8) on the end of it.

So, what's the limiting factor? :huh:
 
Is this different than using 'regular' 3/8" hose? I'm doing some remodel work now with a framing nailer and 125' (two lengths) of what I think is 3/8" hose.

Kirk you should be ok with 3/8 but 1/4 would give you recovery problems. With a 1/4" line you dont have enough volume you do have the pressure for one shot and then wait for it to come back up to pressure. That is why spray equipment manufacture say to never use a 1/4" hose over 12' to 15' on a spray gun it just wont work well enough you have to go to 3/8 over 15' and yes I had to learn this the hard way too ( I tried) and it dose make a large difference.

You are how ever pushing the limits for the 3/8" hose. If you are having any problem use an air pig and it will REALLY help.

Jay
 
Gimme a physics lesson here. :)

You say a 3/8" line isn't bige enough to carry the air, but then you'll use a quick-disconnect fitting that has a hole in it that's only about 3/16" (about ¼ the capacity of 3/8) on the end of it.

So, what's the limiting factor? :huh:
I'm not an engineer nor am I a physics teacher, but I slept at a.......no, no - don't go there.

I know there are factors such as tubing size and hose length that affect air flow and found the following chart on engineeringtoolbox.com. The chart is the airflow through 100' of the size hose listed.
air-discharge-hose-diagram.png
 
...I know there are factors such as tubing size and hose length that affect air flow and found the following chart on engineeringtoolbox.com. The chart is the airflow through 100' of the size hose listed.
air-discharge-hose-diagram.png

Okay, so by your chart, a 3/16" hose, 100 feet long, at 90 psi, will flow about 7 CFM, and a quarter inch hose would flow about 11 CFM, which is enough to rune nearly all common air tools except maybe the big inline sanders, etc.

So, again, my question is: "Why do we need such large air lines (except maybe for 'auxiliary storage') when the actual orifice at the QD is only about 3/16"?

BTW, most of the air lines in my shop are 3/8 - because that's what I had available - except for the line on the reel at my bench, which is 1/4". I've successfully run nailers, air ratchets, and a small 'touch-up' spray gun with this setup for years, with no problems.
 
To answer the original question...

Yes, it looks like a fairly good system, and would certainly be among the easiest to configure and install.

My only concern would be the availability of additional fittings - IF they're of an HF proprietary size. If they're standard sized tubing an fittings, you could probably get them at HD or Lowe's or even (Gasp!) a real plumbing supply shop.:D

The slip-lock fittings are a pretty standard item for things like ice makers and other appliances, and also in some pools and hot tubs.

I've been using them for vacuum hookups for my bench clamps and vacuum bags, and they've worked very well.

All that said, you might check out your local HD, etc., to see if you could do better on the price, and buy only what you need instead of a one-size-fits-all kit.
 
...So, again, my question is: "Why do we need such large air lines (except maybe for 'auxiliary storage') when the actual orifice at the QD is only about 3/16"?...

I should clarify: I'm talking about supply/distribution lines, not the connections to the tools. I'm basing my comments on recommendations for air supply plumbing I've gotten from people who use lots of compressed air. Yes, for nailers and such, the smaller lines would be no problem. But I do know that with my little 2" Grex ROS, I can see and hear a difference between running with 1/4" hose and 3/8" hose, both with the same quick-disconnect fitting.

Another way of looking at it: The orifice on your bathroom faucet isn't nearly as big as the pipe that's supplying the faucet with water. Why not run smaller pipes? Why not run 3/16" hoses on our air tools? ;)
 
A lot of siding and roofing contractors use the slip fittings on inexpensive poly line. They work just fine and are a lot faster to change if they get a cut in the line from dragging on the ground or being run over on the jobsite.

I would have no problem using them if I was redoing my shop air.
CFM wont ruin a tool. Too high an air pressure can break the seals and cause you to rebuild. Your tool and your application determines the amount of CFM you need.
My small compressor with a 3/8" hose will run 2 coil nailers at 100 psi all day long but won't effectively run a jiggy sander at 40psi.
 
Kirk you should be ok with 3/8 but 1/4 would give you recovery problems. With a 1/4" line you dont have enough volume you do have the pressure for one shot and then wait for it to come back up to pressure. ...
I use my PC framing nailer at the end of 200' of 1/4" flex hose from my 60gal, 6hp compressor and can fire nails in rapid order with no problem.
 
To answer the original line of thought... that WOULD work, but I wouldn't do it. Nylon tubing isn't nearly as flexible as good rubber hose, and the fittings are all oddball. Good rubber hose isn't difficult or expensive to buy, and conventional fittings are cheap & ubiquitous (fifty bucks for that word, please :) ).

To enter into the general debate... I can easily tell when I'm running 1/4" hose on my framing nailer instead of 3/8". I like to run 3/8" because it gets stubborn about not driving nails fully with the 1/4" hose.

While the QD fittings are indeed only teeny things, maybe 3/16", and are therefore a limiting factor... friction of the air inside the hose makes a lot of difference. Here we're looking at the ratio of volume:surface, and a 3/8" hose passes far more volume:surface than a 1/4" hose does. It's the volume:surface that gets ya when you need lots of air.

It's much like water plumbing. You can push vast quantities of water through a 1/2" pipe, but that same quantity of water will flow much more easily (and faster) through a 3/4" pipe with 1/2" fittings on both ends.

It's also a little like electricity. A 100-foot #12 wire, even with a little #16 pigtail on each end, has far less overall resistance than a 100-foot #16 wire.
 
Top