I've seen ball valves that are aligned perfectly (the levers are perfectly horizontal or vertical). Is the trick to this to screw the valves on first to find out where they stop, and then mark the couplings so that they'll be welded on correctly?
I've never had a problem with this. If they don't tighten in the orientation you like, you can remove it and put two extra wraps of teflon tape. It's even easier with 3 piece valves when you can just remove the 4 nuts and spin the body.
With pipe threads, after it's tight enough to seal, you can usually get at least another 1/2 turn to orient it correctly.
Enter your email address to join: