New Fill Probe
I got my new one piece fill probe from John Hagan today. It’s a great looking piece. Now I can keep one at my fill station in the back yard out building and one in the garage with my other fill station. I tinkered around on my 1950’s lathe a little trying to make one and came to the reality that I’m not a machinist, not just yet anyway. It was money well spent for a professionally made probe. Thanks John.
JK
All Replies
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
I looked at it and seen it, Its really a work of art,,,, With Christmas around the corner I just could not drop 40 dollars on myself and toys right now…
Maybe in Jan, sometime I can add this to the wish list…
Mike
Jk
That will sure help especially with the bell-mouthing effect of the pressure forces on the outboard end of the nipple end, but there’s not much that can be done with the shoulder where the mating half of the coupling loads the balls that supply the resistance load to keep the halves of the coupling together under pressure load… That shoulder geometry is pretty much fixed because it has to fit inside the coupling. Hopefully the yield strength of the brass is sufficient. If you use it and it starts to become harder to separate or difficult to push together, I’d quit using it. That would be an indication that there is plastic deformation of the brass (swellilng and not returning to its original size after depressurizing/unloading of the coupling).
I did a quick check of the ID of the QC end of the new probe. It measured .094″ and the steel one is .118 so there is a little more material on the brass. I’ll still practice caution with either one though.
Jk
Thanks for the concern SWS. I try to stay out of the line of fire with pressurized equipment. Hopefully the fitting is good and the calculations have been done. I’m probably just as concerned though with some of the other equipment like the hose ends. Lots of pressure for sure but fortunately low volumes. Thanks again,
Jimmy
I wonder if anyone has run the pressure numbers on that piece?? I’d be a bit concerned about using an all brass fitting like that on the QD end. The probe end is a balanced piece, but the QD end has mechanical parts that are pressure loaded when the male and female connectors are engaged. There’s a very good reason the male nipple is steel. Heck, look at the peen marks on the older steel nipple in the photo. That brass is MUCH softer than the steel and it will be mated with a steel coupling. Depending on the fill pressure, it could have some serious plastic deformation even to the point of failure. If you use it, please be careful and inspect it for damage until you are confident the brass nipple is of sufficient strength to hold up to the load of the coupling at your pressure. Somebody needs to run the minimum shear calculations on that part if they haven’t already been done. I.D. bore could be a big issue too.
I’m new to this PCP stuff, but I have been in the high pressure business for almost 40 years and that part scares me.
Got mine the other day too. Its a nice piece of work. Thanks John
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
I also have one from John. I keep one in my truck and another in the shop. Last winter I drove over to the cattle barn to shoot birds, after 50 or so shots I was going to refill but realized I had left my probe back home. 😡