Leaking air hose fitting

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My experience with those screw tightening bands is they don't form a circle, and in fact encourage leakage at the corners of the solid portion. It's even more pronounced if you use a band that's beyond the recommended size. If you still have problems, try wrapping a few turns of electrical tape (either vinyl or friction) around the hose where you apply the clamp, to increase its diameter somewhat, then apply the clamp again.

You might also look closely at the barb to see if it has any serious grooving that runs parallel to the body---such that the groove might form a pathway that leaks under pressure.

Harold

I never use a clamp--hangs up on everything, including fingers---seize it 20 or thirty wraps of stainless steel tie wire (safety wire)---if you want , I'll send you a sketch on how to do it --no knots, twists, or protruding ends---maybe somebody has a book on knot tying that has a picture.---Jerry

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Way cool, Jerry. What do you do with the loose ends?

Harold

Great suggestion ! I guess that would be the trout fly tyer's "whip finish" also used sometime for preventing the end of a rope from unraveling. For example:

I like it; I'll try it; thanks, David Merrill

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I like the constrictor knot for this sort of thing.

David Merrill wrote:

I agree. I use ear clamps - don't hang up, better looking, clamp better:

What size wire do you use?

Bob

I've always had leaks from screw clamps at small sizes unless I nearly squish the hose out of existence. But that can cause a break later. Last time I put on barb fittings, I wrapped the clamp area with coathanger wire. Twisted the loose ends together and jabbed the points back into the hose--not where there's air going through, of course. Worked great, lower profile, too. If you're careful, it even looks nice and never wears out.

Just get a "fuel injection hose" clamp. They clamp full circle and do not leak.

I was wandering around a local gunshow a few years back and ran across a guy demonstrating and selling this gizmo that used wire to make clamps.

He was really good at it and made some beautiful demo clamps. The sales pitch was pretty entertaining too. I ended up buying one of the nice ones. I don't remember it being anywhere near as expensive as the website lists them at, though. Hey, everybody is entitled to something for an original idea, but these prices seem a bit much.

Anyway, the silly thing has proven itself to be really useful at fixing a multitude of hoses (mostly garden) and a few other things. I actually find it kind of enjoyable to take my time and get a nice looking clamp out of the wire. Like basketweaving. But, the thing does work well with a bit of practice.

If you poke around on the website you'll find the detailed instructions

and imagine you might be able to figure out how to make one.

All of my hose are secured with a double wrap of wire applied with the wire hose clamp maker as discussed here several years ago. These were manufactured by a small firm in Alaska. I made my own from a photo posted byTed Edwards -

:-)} London, Canada

I'm not sure it's an original idea. I've got one of those that I bought from an old timer when he retired about 20 years ago. His was machined from steel with a nice knurled handle.

It's far from original. I've got one that was made by the Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Co. that's likely 50 years old at a guess. It works a little differently in that there's a square plunger that comes out of the end when the large knurled knob on the back is turned (it's left hand thread so that turning right causes the plunger to extend). On either side of the plunger is two small holes that you stick the ends of the wire into and there's a clamp on the side of the nose that clamps the wire tightly in the holes. It doesn't waste as much wire as the modern versions do though at a price of being a little bulky at the nose end. I've been meaning to put pics of it up on my little home page but I've not had time in the last couple of years to do much updating.

Hi Wayne,

When you get a chance, personally I would enjoy seeing it. Is there any patent info stamped on it? If so post that and I'll dig the patent diagrams up.

I saved the info for the newer version a while back to study a bit better. I've seen it being demonstrated/sold at Ag-Expo held once a year in Lansing MI. It seemed to be a bit overpriced in my opinion too. If I was going to make one your version sounds like it would be a bit nicer and more useful.

I remember from some of your recent postings/woes that your plate is plenty full. So don't knock yourself out on this :)

Unfortunately no patent.

It's nicer in some ways though there's been a few times in tight spots where I've thought that the other type might be a bit better.

Thanks. She's still in the nursing home at the moment about 20 miles away. My evenings are taken up with either working or visiting her so extra time has been hard to find this summer but if I don't do it now I won't get it done. So I just got through putting up 3 pics onto my web site. I've not done any index or text but the pics are here.

I probably should of sent them to the what's this guy so everybody could guess. :-)

Wayne, could you describe the way the clamp holds the wire. It looks like something I'll have to try out when I get a little extra time down at the school shop. ...lew...

Hi Wayne,

THANKS!

It is different enough from the new version that I probably wouldn't have been able to guess its use. I gave it a cursory glance and saved the images to study better later.

I spent last winter visiting the local Veterans Home several days a week (thank god one of the only two facilities in MI was located close by) to see my Dad in their Alzheimer's unit. Stuff like this gets old really fast and you have my sympathies. He passed away this Spring, I hate to say it, but it was a relief. I was really impressed with the Vets Home, top notch care for sure. I wish you well with your situation.

Hi Lew,

The patent number for the ClampTite is 7,036,394. See this page for text, images...

or

You can also get the info via the Patent to PDF service by entering the patent number in their form:

If you look a little ways down the above page, there are references to other similar patents. Notably:

5,148,577 Sep 22 1992 4,084,625 Apr 18 1978 2,421,878 Jun 10 1947 1,453,940 May 01 1923 1,347,579 Jul 27 1920 1,078,533 Nov 11 1913 1,012,282 Dec 19 1911

These are all worth looking at if you are interested in building one yourself. I didn't see any from the list though that looked exactly like Wayne's.

If you make one, I would be curious to see and hear about what you finally come up with :)

Sorry about the delay. Had to work on the printing press Sat on top of my daughter having 3 girls over (along with one of the girls little brother) made for a busy weekend.

The clamp part is fairly simple. There's two holes going up the nose. They then took a end mill and milled down to just barely intersect the holes on each side. The stamped metal clamp piece in a U has pointed ends. Tightening the bolt pushes the clamp piece against the wire holding it.