Are air quick-disconnects directional?

[SwampNut]

I'm sure that's a confusing title.  With an air compressor, we always use the female ends for the supply/high pressure side, because they self seal when not in use.  Obviously the consumers (tools) are male and open to atmosphere.

 

I just got that vacuum clamping system, and it's all backwards, depending on how you look at it.  The vac pump, the supply side of the work if that's how you see it, is male.  The consumers (vacuum clamp pods) are female.  The pressure side remains female in this case, but the pressure is atmosphere, not the pump.

 

I'm asking because the two clamping pods have a long hose with a female, and plug into either the pump or a T-connector that feeds both pods at once.  I'd like to hide the pump under the bench, and make a nice hanging solution for the pods.  I need to either buy and put connectors on them, or...why not just reverse the hoses?  Have them both leave the T-connector as hoses, not QDs, and move the QDs to the pod side.

 

I'm also super fucking curious.

 

Side note, the Festool QD is the smoothest, softest-engaging QD you have ever touched.  I swear they just fall in place with no pressure (even with the vac off).  I'd have to buy more of those, I cannot bring myself to use regular plebeian QDs on this tool.

[superhawk996]

If by directional you mean that the female will leak if disconnected and under a vacuum, it depends on the vacuum put against it.  The valve is spring loaded, no clue how much it would take to overcome the spring.  Being that they connect so easily my guess is that they have a softer spring than 'normal' ones and will leak more easily.

[SwampNut]

Sure, but when connected nothing should change, right?  I know you don't have a solid answer, but just thinking about it, would you expect any issue?

[superhawk996]

I think the answer is no since there's the same amount of vacuum exerted on the fitting regardless which side the pull is coming from.  My assumption because I don't fully understand the setup.

[SwampNut]

Actually posting the pics that I took for this would have probably helped a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

Here we have the male fitting at the pump, female with a short hose to a T, and that feeds the two bases.  You can ignore the T if using a single base.

 

 

 

Here's a guy who had the same idea as me, and solved it by buying more fittings.

 

 

[superhawk996]

I can't imagine they'd leak connected.  If you need to run it with some disconnected and they leak you could add ball valves.

[JoWhee]

This may or may not apply to your situation. Keep in mind that vacuum is backwards so pretty much everything you already know about tubing will also be backwards. Think if it as a coke bottle or beer can they can handle a positive pressure, but any negative pressure will make them collapse. It could be the same with your vacuum setup, and leak testing vac lines is a PITA. We use structured cable for a particular product, it's a fancy carbon fiber blah blah tubing. We had a sub contractor decide to save a few bucks by not using the recommended brand of John Guest (shark bite) fittings. It leaked all over the place, because the seals were meant for positive pressure like water supply to a fridge or ice maker. If you're just using a vacuum to remove air or gas from a space it shouldn't matter, but if you need precision don't fuck with it. Also in the second picture aren't those arrows on the fittings? 

Edit: aren't those hepa filters? If you're removing dangerous compounds from the work area then you want as much suction from the source and as little "line loss" as possible. 

[SwampNut]

All useful thoughts, for sure.  They are arrows, but I think they mean "release like this" and not the air flow direction.  Not sure what you're thinking about filters, but this vac system is purely to clamp things on the bases, not working with dust or chemicals.  Vacuum is supplied to these bases, so that wood is held to them magically.  The bases also use the vacuum to clamp themselves to the table.  There's just one little filter like a fuel filter to keep dust out of the pump.  There will never be significant material/vapor flowing through the system.  Oddly the fittings are all "high flow Euro style" but I'm not sure that a lot of air is flowing.  I think the pump is like 1CFM, or so.

 

 

 

[JoWhee]

Ah, I get it now, sweet setup, I had googled festool and the info was that it's used for is to keep "dust" away from the machine operator. I like the vacuum attachment idea; much easier to use than clamps, but I still stand by my statement of leakage, it would be a PITA to have a project fall away from the "clamp" and be damaged because of a cheap or improperly installed fitting. 

[SwampNut]

Yeah, it's super hard to search for this thing because Festool is well known for their dust extraction systems.  Now, they don't call it a "vacuum," they say "dust extraction system."  It's also quite glorious, in how it works with the tools, and is so quiet.  You leave a cord from the vac to the tool hooked to the hose.  Which is conical by the way, fucking weird, but they say it's way more effective.  You unplug the power from the tool end, to swap tools.  The vac powers on when you power on the tool.  It has a Bluetooth button to manually start it with no tool or a non-system cordless tool.  With a Festool BT tool, it signals the vac to start and stop.

 

 

 

 

The Festool Sustainer cases connect to each other for site work.  I don't need that, but it's also nice to stack them in the shop.  You can open a middle box without unstacking, assuming you can support the tilted weight.

[SwampNut]

Back on topic, I think I might have a happy home for the vac-sys bases without changing connectors around.  I will see.  I had to re-think a long-standing storage habit.  Also I built a new storage drawer.  I made the storage drawer to solve the problem of the big bases being in the way of things on the assembly bench (work other than clamping).  While making it, since the bases were in my way I got an auxiliary table to clamp down the new work.

 

I clamped the new work to another table because the vacuum clamps were in the way.

 

LOL.

 

This hasn't worked into my mental habits yet.

 

Change is good, I should re-arrange the shop based on new info and changed tools.

 

[blackhawkxx]

5 hours ago, SwampNut said:

I should re-arrange the shop based on new info and changed tools.

 

Bad.  Every time I rearrange my tools, time goes by and I can't find the seldom used one that I need to complete what I'm working on. 

I never thought of it until now, maybe it would be a good idea to take the time to shoot some pics of where things are so I don't keep buying the same tool that I already own and find as soon as I get the new one.

[SwampNut]

I went through that with duplicate tools over time.  When I rearranged, I was forced to find everything, and then to mentally catalog everything.  I'm feeling like I'm slipping back to lost things.  The other day I went to find a hinge I swear I should have, but didn't find it.  So for me, organizing is positive.

 

I'd also bet I have several cubic feet of absolutely unnecessary shit.  It's hard to find the line between hoarding and saving.

 

Ok, now I'm talked into it.

 

[blackhawkxx]

13 hours ago, SwampNut said:

It's hard to find the line between hoarding and saving.

You have to keep it because you will need it someday. Man I'm ready for someday.  🙂

[superhawk996]

3 hours ago, blackhawkxx said:

You have to keep it because you will need it someday. Man I'm ready for someday.  🙂

Unfortunately, the only way to guarantee you'll need it is to throw it away.

[SwampNut]

Found the hinges.  Cleaned a lot, rearranged a "dead" corner.  (Place where things land by default and just clutter.) I know this pic means little if you weren't here, but it's a nice change and makes the corner more usable for tools that sort of stay where they are mostly, but need to come out sometimes.  Also air cleaner and water softener can just live there.

 

 

 

I need to get things like hinges, knobs, and dozens of other misc hardware out of a bin and into...something.  I need a way to organize them so they can be found.  But they are too big for most organizer things (or the bag of them is, even if singles aren't).  So, that's a project.

 

[superhawk996]

Having been there through many iterations, that's the nicest I remember that corner being other than when it was empty/near empty.  As for the hinges and stuff, maybe buy or make a set of drawers.  I think I'd go with something tall, narrow, and deep so it can live in the closet and give the most space for its footprint.

[SwampNut]

8 minutes ago, superhawk996 said:

I think I'd go with something tall, narrow, and deep so it can live in the closet and give the most space for its footprint.

 

Huh...or opposite, and pull down from the ceiling.  Hmm.  The corner could accommodate tall and narrow, and since I rarely need to get to that hardware, it wouldn't be annoying.

 

I'm pretty much out of wall space, and cabinets are not stuffed but not really super empty.  Ceiling space and the corner though...

 

[superhawk996]

2 hours ago, SwampNut said:

Huh...or opposite, and pull down from the ceiling.

This was actually my first thought, but I thought it was too retarded to say out loud.  Perfect.

[SwampNut]

12 hours ago, superhawk996 said:

This was actually my first thought, but I thought it was too retarded to say out loud.  Perfect.

 

I had a pulley system for the ceiling, intended to hang bicycles.  I got it to hang something else, then changed the plan.  It sat around for a while.  During the Sunday cleaning, I put the whole thing in the trash.  Yes, that's right, two days before big brain idea time, I tossed the parts that would make it possible.

 

Your idea also reminded me of this neat little cubby and drawer thing I had built a very long time ago.  Then it wasn't needed and sat around for a while.  That's right, tossed it a month ago.

 

But that's all fine, it made me build something perfect for one of the spaces inside the cabinet, and to house the Container Store clear plastic bins that are like $3.  Partly from your idea, and partly because I have some of those in use already in the other garage for the reloading stuff.

 

Upside down here.

 

[blackhawkxx]

3 hours ago, SwampNut said:

 It sat around for a while.  During the Sunday cleaning, I put the whole thing in the trash.  Yes, that's right, two days before big brain idea time, I tossed the parts that would make it possible.

 

On 5/9/2023 at 6:31 AM, blackhawkxx said:

You have to keep it because you will need it someday.

See, you didn't follow the rules and now you paid for it.   😄

[SwampNut]

18 minutes ago, blackhawkxx said:

 

See, you didn't follow the rules and now you paid for it.   😄

 

Fuck you, you fuckin' fuck.  Yeah, cleaning is always hampered by this.  Same with wood scraps.

 

I did yet another office IT decommissioning today, customer gave me a small folding table that will be great for setting up parts/hand tools anywhere in the shop, and a medium plastic drawer storage thing that will fit great in my cabinets or on top of a tool.  That office building was a ghost town.

 

[Biometrix]

14 hours ago, SwampNut said:

 

Fuck you, you fuckin' fuck.  Yeah, cleaning is always hampered by this.  Same with wood scraps.

 

OMG don't get me started on wood scraps...I...can...NOT...throw them away unless they are the smallest mangled pieces. You just never know when you'll need the perfect sized wood scrap. I have a whole section in my shop just for wood scraps separated into hardwood, softwood and ply/composite wood. Nothing more irritating then having to cut a nice full board or sheet for a tiny piece to complete a project. 

[SwampNut]

 

Ok, cool, I'll make my storage exactly 20" wide, that's an easy number to work with too.

 

 

 

Let's install it.  Wait, what the fuck?  I am off by 1/4" on size so it won't fit?  Not possible, I'm not perfect, but I get things down to 1/16th or better every time.

 

 

 

Motherfucker.

 

Also, the shelf is not just warped from time, but was installed all wonky.  Shims it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jon haney]

On 5/10/2023 at 2:40 PM, SwampNut said:

 

customer gave me a small folding table that will be great for setting up parts/hand tools anywhere in the shop,

 

Six months from now it will just be in your way.

LOL