1/2" o.d. Stainless tubing options

[rharvey]

I am sure somone has attempted this before, but I am unable to find any examples. My idea is to use 1/2" o.d. Stainless steel tubing for the plumbing in my new stand. I was thinking of picking up some male npt camlocks and either soldering our welding them onto the tubing to allow for easy disassembling.

So, my question is does the 1/2" od tubing fit nicely inside a male npt fitting?

 

[dmfa200]

If it were me I would get the barbed camlocks, cut off the barb, drill out the camlock to a 1/2" and slide the tubing in flush with the inside of the camlock where it seals and fuse weld(with TIG) the tubing to the camlock on the inside of the fitting where the gasket is.
It would make all your piping sanitary.
Hope you can picture what I'm saying.

 

[rharvey]

I think I understand what you are saying, but wouldn't using the male npt thread achieve the same thing without having to cut off the barb and drill a hole? simply for aesthetics, I could cut of the threads and weld or solder to the 1/2" inside diameter of the camlock, providing the npt inside diameter is the same as the 1/2" outside diameter of the tubing.

 

[BargainFittings]

1/2" NPT female and male threads are bigger than 1/2"

The inner diameter of a 1/2" nipple is about 5/8"

You would not be able to solder a 1/2" OD stainless tube to it.

 

[rharvey]

Would a 5/8" stainless tube fit the inside diameter of a 1/2" npt fitting?

 

[BargainFittings]

I don't think so. I've checked several and some are slightly smaller than 5/8"

The ID of male 1/2 NPT portions on the camlocks measured .56"

 

[rharvey]

Thanks for the info. I haven't pulled the trigger in ordering my camlocks from bargain fittings yet and I am already impressed with the customer service! Is there any other way that I have overlooked to convert tubing to npt without buying pricy compression fittings?

 

[Bobby_M]

Yup, interior of the type B cam lock is .56" so IF you got a swaging tool you could expand the tubing to slip fit. 5/8" OD tubing is a nice tight fit inside a standard 1/2" NPT nipple, but camlocks no.

I would use the barbed version, cut off the barb, grind flush, then drill out to exactly 1/2". Actually, isn't the front end of the male cam about 1/2" ID? I didn't think to measure it. If so, the type A would be good or you can even use a dust plug.

 

[BargainFittings]

The ID of the camlock side of an F is .52"
I could probably solder it. It would be a bit sloppy

I have never tried to use a swaging tool with stainless steel tubing. Flaring stainless steel tubing is a pain.

Not any other economical ways to adapt from tubing to a thread fitting other than welding or soldering.

 

[Bobby_M]

yeah, .02" would be less than a 64th" gap all the way around. You could easily lay Stay Brite #8 in there.

 

[rharvey]

If I cut off the threads completely from the "f" style, is the rest of the i.d. 0.52"? Or would it need to be soldered at the camlock output?

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, you could use any style that has the male cam end but you'd have to remove any material from the back end that would prevent the tubing from getting into the cam-side bore. In the case of an F, you'd need to remove the male threads and possible drill out a bit. If you use a type A, I would presume it wouldn't take any modification at all. You might not like it aesthetically but it's the easiest way I can think of... AND CHEAP!

 

[rharvey]

If I go that route and drill out male fittings, would 5/8 outside diameter tubing be better? That way there would less chance of restriction.

 

[Bsquared]

I was playing around with the 1/2OD SS tube I have trying to figure out how to braze some threads on. I swaged a piece to see if I could get a close fit in to a 1/2npt close nipple. It was like ringing the dinner bell.

What I did find was a 1/4npt F coupler was just a hair smaller. According to Wikipedia 1/4NPT is .54in. I wonder if you could cut some threads into the 1/2OD tube and use a 1/4x1/2 coupler.

 

[Bobby_M]

Yes, you can. The wall thickness matters though. I just threaded some .020 wall and you can see the threads from the inside. Probably pretty weak.