Leaking air

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by apalrd

Are you being generous enough with the teflon tape at the thread sealings? We taped the crap out of our pneumatic system, and combined with checking for flat cuts, our simple pneumatic system with a compressor, 1 air tank, and 2 solenoids with 3 pistons (kicker clutch and shifters) can hold the tank above 100psi overnight.

There's still the whole "Too much of a good thing" problem. It's conceivable to put so much teflon on a fitting that you can't even thread it. It also makes it harder to tighten up fittings and increases the risk of getting shreds of teflon in your system. Not to mention the nightmare of having to clean it off the fitting if you ever have to disassemble things.

We usually don't bother with more than 2-3 wraps of teflon on my team or at my company for these reasons. If you properly tighten the fittings, this is more than enough to get a good seal, and little enough to not cause you problems.

[jspatz1]

Too much tape can also cause problems with fragments getting into the air flow and reaching the solenoid valve spools, where they can jam spools and cause a failure. A couple of wraps is sufficient. Just assemble your system tightly and with care.

[apalrd]

by "tape the crap out of it" I mean "tape the crap out of it until there is plenty but not too much". We don't have more than 3 wraps on any one fitting.