Stainless Camlocks review

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never mind, I watched the Venerable BobbyM's video again. I had a different fitting in mind. there really isn't room to bore out the barb any further.
 
Commonwealth said:
never mind, I watched the Venerable BobbyM's video again. I had a different fitting in mind. there really isn't room to bore out the barb any further.
Click to expand...

I thought about it on the ones I bought, but there isn't a lot of material there. I wound up with too many barbed fittings though. I might chuck one up in the lathe just for fun... We'll see.
 
so if you were going to make your own higher flow barb would it make sense to buy the type D (with female NPT threads) drill them threads out and press fit/weld a tube/home made hose barb on there. Brewbeemer speaks about modifying the type C. I wondered which would be better if you did want to do it up
 
Does anybody have the 3/4" size yet?

I want to replace the standard seal with a silicone O-ring but am not sure what size to get.

Proflow says they are not planning on carrying the"food safe" seals in anything but the 1/2" size. they said if would cost them $7.50 for the 3/4" -wow!

Any ideas or measurements?

My Proflow order won't ship till next week and I wantto order the o-rings in advance.

thanks,
jason
 
jwright said:
Does anybody have the 3/4" size yet?

I want to replace the standard seal with a silicone O-ring but am not sure what size to get.

Proflow says they are not planning on carrying the"food safe" seals in anything but the 1/2" size. they said if would cost them $7.50 for the 3/4" -wow!

Any ideas or measurements?

My Proflow order won't ship till next week and I wantto order the o-rings in advance.

thanks,
jason
Click to expand...

I have the 1/2" Pro-Flow SS fittings too.
I just measured the seal with a dial caliper. The measurements are:
outside diameter: 1.040"
inside diameter: .570"
Thickness of material: .145"

I know Sears Hardware & Lowes has Silicone O-Rings, not sure if Homer Depot does.
I'm glad I read this post as I will need to look at replacing the seals as well.
I was planning on firing my Brutus up this weekend and run the pumps for a test brew.
 
I just went to Lowes and found Drinking Water Hose Washers that are the exact dimensions as the camlock washers I gave in my last post. I replaced one and it was a perfect fit.
I found these in the plumbing section. Just ask them for hose washers. They came in a bag of 6 for 98 cents and were white in color.
Certainly they have them online as well.
 
Bobby,

I think you will find them much easier if you take off the keyrings. I used them once with the rings and got real frustrated. I took them all off and it makes life smoother.
 
Ive been using these for awhile now and got a say there great. Once I replaced the oring with a silicone one and got rid of the key ring things they are pretty much one handed. I transfer in to carboys so I took a male end and a street 90 to make something a bit easier to get in there.

brewnickbrew said:
I just went to Lowes and found Drinking Water Hose Washers that are the exact dimensions as the camlock washers I gave in my last post. I replaced one and it was a perfect fit.
I found these in the plumbing section. Just ask them for hose washers. They came in a bag of 6 for 98 cents and were white in color.
Certainly they have them online as well.
Click to expand...

Great find, just make sure they can handle the high temps.
 
mkultra69 said:
Ive been using these for awhile now and got a say there great. Once I replaced the oring with a silicone one and got rid of the key ring things they are pretty much one handed. I transfer in to carboys so I took a male end and a street 90 to make something a bit easier to get in there.



Great find, just make sure they can handle the high temps.
Click to expand...


I sure will. hope to fire it up this coming week and go through a few test brews.
 
Had I read this thread to the end, I wouldn't be out the shipping to exchange the Type C's for the Type B's. Shame on me. Kudos to the folks at Pro Flow. Mike even offered to ship the Type B's prior to receiving the Type C's if I was in a rush (though I didn't take him up on it).

One of the primary reasons for getting a pump was so that I could whirlpool, so increased flow is pretty important for me. However, flow rate aside, I really like the elbow solution. You guys never fail to provide great information.
 
Anyone put these on a cfc? I'm about to order mine and was wondering which one people are using on their cfc. I'm going to use females on my hoses.
 
nspaldi0 said:
Anyone put these on a cfc? I'm about to order mine and was wondering which one people are using on their cfc. I'm going to use females on my hoses.
Click to expand...

I'll be using them (if ever they come back in stock) with a plate chiller. I too am putting females on all of my hoses.
 
nspaldi0 said:
Anyone put these on a cfc? I'm about to order mine and was wondering which one people are using on their cfc. I'm going to use females on my hoses.
Click to expand...

I've got mine on my Immersion Chiller:

067.JPG
 
Just got my order today. They sure are tough to connect those first couple of time. I can't wait to test them out. Now I just have to finish my stand! I only have to mount the burners and plumb the LP and I'm good to go!
 
Take the cams, cam pivot pins as well the male cam locking pocket and apply a light coating of White Lighting Clean Ride bicycle chain lube. It's a paraffin wax base suspended by a fast evaporating solvent to allow transfer and penetration of the wax to important lwearing locations. Within 30 seconds only the paraffin wax coating is left that does not collect grit and dirt.
Yes i'll hear big monster fears that this is a instant death item toapply for human consumption. Your still alive not dead from all the paraffin base crayons you ate as a kid growing up are you? Available at good bicycle shops.
 
I used paraffin wax to mold a mouthpiece for one of my didgeridoos... I've french kissed it many times. I'm still alive! :ban:
 
The only joke all year by my organic chemistry prof was "You could eat paraffins all day long, and all they would do is plug you up". We used paraffin as a seal on top of jelly not that long ago. I don't know what the solvent is, but If it is really so volatile as to be gone in 30 seconds I would not lose sleep over that. However, I would want to make sure nothing else was involved before it had contact with wort. The cams don't have any wort contact, though, do they?
 
Only if your sloppy with hose changes, this all outside the hoses heading to the floor. I have jars of cherries my mom canned dated 1956, 1959 that are as good as the day made with wax sealed tops before the Mason lids were installed. No worries. What about the wax candy lips we ate by the pound back in the early 60's? Come on old fart members fess up it was a great era except Nam.
 
There's a lot of other stuff you could use....like keg lube. It seems like breaking them in is the biggest issue, then you should be good to go!
 
The biggest issue is getting a compression set in the seal as over time they lock a lot easier, not by including wear factor. The "O' ring replacement vs a flat seal compressing a narrow contact area is
a way to go, if worn cams just use fatter "O" rings. Vinegar in 300 to 400 grain on 4" aluminum camlocs will eat and wear them away quickly forleakers with the low surfact tension. Pricing out aluminum vs stainless your in need of nitro heart pills being a self employed tank driver.
 
Got mine in today. So the general consensus is to take the rings off?

Also, is it absolutely necessary to grind the threads down on the male end of the 90 degree elbow? Can't I just thread the hose on and it will be tight enough without a clamp?

IMG_19321.JPG
 
I think so, just use a white ziptie instead of a worm clamp. Gawd, I love stainless steel :mug:
 
Sorry if I missed this, but Im looking for a way to use these on 3/4" MPT. I ordered the 3/4" FPT Type A Adapter thinking that the actual camlocks were standard sizes. I'm looking for stainless parts to go 3/4" MPT to 1/2" Adapters so everything will work in my brewery. I recently purchased one of the diesel chill plates but the only option was 3/4" MPT or FPT. Any suggestions?
 
Is anyone taking the rings off? I find these to be an incredible PITA when operating with one hand. They get flipped under the lever and in the way.
 
IrregularPulse said:
Is anyone taking the rings off? I find these to be an incredible PITA when operating with one hand. They get flipped under the lever and in the way.
Click to expand...

According to some of the posts, yes. I removed all of mine last night. I installed most of my camlocks last night and they worked great without the rings. By the time I was done putting them on and taking them off a few dozen times, it was easier than I thought. Now doing it with a pair of gloves on while boiling wort is flowing thru them may be another story...:D
 

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