Hello everyone!
Welcome to Mako TV.
In this short video, I want to show you how to connect tube fittings, otherwise known
as compression fittings, accurately and securely every time, to make sure it’s safe for you
and your workers.
Before we install a tube fitting, we want to make sure the tube is properly prepared.
We want to make sure that it is clean, that it’s deburred, and that the tubing hardness
matches the tube fitting specifications.
Always check with your manufacturer to make sure your tubing is certified to work with
the tube fitting that you happen to be using.
There is one big myth that is common in the industry, and that’s when we are tightening
a tube fitting that a tube fitting can be tightened and it’s a matter of torque.
So, “did we get the torque right?
Did we tighten it up and can I feel when the torque is right, and know when a fitting is
tightened correctly?”
Big myth.
Big misunderstanding.
In reality, A tube fitting nut is tightened onto stainless steel tubing by the depth that
the nut is tightened to, or number of turns from hand tight.
Today I want to show you how to tighten a tube fitting properly, onto tubing, so we
make sure to have a leak free, safe connection, every time.
There are standard guidelines for installing virtually every tube fitting on the market.
They’re all the same, no matter what brand of all the major brands in the market.
A piece of tubing is inserted into a tube fitting until it bottoms out.
There is a shoulder in the back of it that we are going to bottom this tube fitting out
on.
It’s very important.
Then we are going to take the nut, and we are going to hand tighten the nut until we
can’t hand tighten anymore.
At that point, a marker is needed, and we are going to mark this nut at the six O’clock
position along with the body.
With your marks at the six O’clock position, we going to continue to rotate this nut, with
a wrench, 1-1/4 turns from hand tight.
Six O’clock position, 1-1/4 turns brings it to the nine O’clock position.
And that’s it!
That’s as easy as installing a tube fitting is.
But, there is one other thing that we have to do, which I see in the market that not
many people do.
Every manufacturer has in their instructions that after a tube fitting is installed, we
must then use a gap gauge to check the gap between the nut and the body.
So, there’s a gap here.
When we finish tightening this correctly, there is only one spot that will give us the
maximum sealing potential for a safe and sure connection.
Under tightening causes the ferrules inside not to bite.
Which, can at pressure, release this tubing making it become a projectile.
Over tightening can crush and damage the ferrules.
It can crush the nut and cause leakage.
So, we want to make sure that this nut is tightened to the precise spot every time.
So, what can happen if we install a fitting that is over tightened or under tightened?
First of all, you may have to throw away the fitting.
A tubing run might have to be replaced which causes a lot of time and expense.
Also, more concerning, is the potential for safety issues.
The media running through our tube may be at high pressure, it may be at high temperature,
and it may be caustic chemicals that can be harmful.
So any time we increase the potential for a leak, we are looking at serious consequences.
Now I want to show you an amazing new patent which limits the potential of human error.
Which is what we are dealing with today when we are installing these correctly, is the
human error factor.
This is a new patented tube fitting from Superlok.
What Superlok has done is put building gap gauges on every fitting because most installers
are not using the gap gauge to check a fitting and make sure it’s done correctly.
I am going to remove these ferrules and give you a demonstration of what a gap gauge fitting
does.
With Superlok, you take the tubing, you insert it into the fitting fully, and start tightening
the nut.
You tighten with a wrench until these red rings pop away.
These red rings are an amazing new built-in gap gauge.
What this does is eliminate the need to carry a gap gauge.
And most people in the industry are not using a gap gauge to install fittings anyway.
So they’re really not following the manufacturer’s instruction.
Now we’ve eliminated the need for a gap gauge by having a built-in gap gauge on every
fitting.
So the distance is always correct.
It’s not over tightened, and it’s not under tightened.
It’s tightened at the exact right spot every time for maximum seal and safety.
This simple patent is rocking the industry.
It is the only improvement in the tube fitting concept in 60 years.
For more information on this amazing product and other instrumentation and control products,
you can check us out on SuperlokWorld.com.
There you’ll see a variety of valves and fittings and tubing.
Anything that might supply what you need in the instrumentation and control world.
You can also check us out on Superlok TV for more videos.
Stay tuned.
We appreciate it, and good night.