hanging a hose reel

[dbhost]

They have the coupon for $69.99 again. I will likely be running over this weekend after the work on the truck is done, and grabbing one of these. I am sick and tired of tripping over my air hoses!

I am not sure what to do for a feed line though. My current hose stash is a 50' Hitachi 1/4" PU hose. I would MUCH rather feed the thing with bigger hose than that. My secondary hose is a 50' Central Pnuematic PU hose that is a POS... Max pressure of 90PSI which is bad news...

I am considering adding a new hose to the mix, a 25' PVC / Rubber blend hose from Harbor Freight. However an all rubber hose isn't out of the question either... I just figured for ceiling mounting / dealing with weight the PVC blend might be better. Just a dumb thought probably...

I discovered the other day the manager at the local Harbor Freight is a fellow I worked with at a local Lumber Yard when I was in college. Haven't seen him in over a decade. Nice guy. Kind of odd how things work out over the years.

[Stytooner]

I have one of these mounted on the wall beside one of my DP's. Works great and it is pretty much out of the way.

I have another reel that is manually operated. It didn't come with a hose. It hangs outside under a shed. It carries 100' hose. I am able to reach any shop and the house with that one. It was quite a bit cheaper as well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/100-ft-steel-air-hose-reel-46342.html#.UzQvsvldXNk

[lrr]

A word of caution to all on HF air hoses. At a small shop I worked for, we had the premium HF rubber air hose, in 3/8". Developed bubbles in 3-4 weeks. It was under constant pressure, but so were other brands of hose, and never bubbled in the couple years I was there.

[Stytooner]

Some of the HF hose is actually made by Goodyear. I have had good luck with the few HF hoses I have bought. Usually buy from US industrial supply house.

[dbhost]

A word of caution to all on HF air hoses. At a small shop I worked for, we had the premium HF rubber air hose, in 3/8". Developed bubbles in 3-4 weeks. It was under constant pressure, but so were other brands of hose, and never bubbled in the couple years I was there.

That is what I was afraid of...

Harbor Freight used to carry Goodyear hoses, but they seem to have stopped.

I may just end up with one of those Amflo hoses from Home Depot. I wasn't all that keen on using a 50' hose as a jumper though... I believe from where the compressor fitting is, to where I want the fitting for the hose reel to be, if I put it above the workbench, just behind the DC ducting, which would allow me to move the hose unobstructed throughout the shop, I would really have less than 15' to go from connector, to wall, up wall, accross, down the side of the reel and into the input port.

With the size of the runs, I somewhat wonder if I could just splurge, and go with 1/2" copper pipe. I could then just use a short whip to get to the compressor...

[lrr]

I forgot to mention ... a question came up about RapidAir. I have a RapidAir distribution system in my shop. It is fantastic, but I do not leave my compressor on 24/7, so I cannot attest to its durability when being pressurized constantly.

My shop is in the basement, but the compressor is in the garage, just below the bedroom. When it cycles, it is usually at 2am. Shocks the heck out of me, and maybe even the neighbors. So I am pretty well trained to shut it off at the end of the day.

[dbhost]

Hmmm. My compressor doesn't cycle except for when I use it, or there are major temp / pressure changes in the environment...

My shop is a garage workshop, with the compressor against the common wall shared with the master bath. I can hear it when it cycles inside the house, but it is just a quiet buzzing in the house.

Chances are the neighbors hear it too, but the particular neighbors on that side of the house, after their repeated 2:00 A.M. concert volume level music I couldn't care less if they hear me running a planer next to their bedroom window.

Yes I get grumpy when someone repeatedly makes me lose sleep...

[dbhost]

Loring,

You sir are a BAD influence... I HAD to dig up the coupon and print that sucker out. Going to Harbor Freight to grab one tomorrow... Probably be a week or so before I hang it though...

[LCHIEN]

think of all the money you are saving.

On the hose, do auto parts stores make hydraulic hoses to custom length with 1/4" NPT males or larger crimped to the ends? Would that do if you knew the exact measure for your over the top jumper?

Don't forget the thing has a 3/8" NPT female inlet to the center of the reel. YOu can take care of that with a custom hose, too. If you want more flow get a custom length 1/2" rubber hydraulic hose with a 3/8" npt male at the reel end and a whatever you want at the other end.

[dbhost]

think of all the money you are saving.

On the hose, do auto parts stores make hydraulic hoses to custom length with 1/4" NPT males or larger crimped to the ends? Would that do if you knew the exact measure for your over the top jumper?

Don't forget the thing has a 3/8" NPT female inlet to the center of the reel. YOu can take care of that with a custom hose, too. If you want more flow get a custom length 1/2" rubber hydraulic hose with a 3/8" npt male at the reel end and a whatever you want at the other end.

I was thinking about that. I know that some auto parts places make up / crimp hydraulic hose. Most of the big chain stores don't though... I think there is a Hydraulic shop on Walker in League City that can do the job pretty affordably. I have seen 1/2" whips made with 3/8" NPT on one end, and 1/4" NPT on the other. I would have to install the reel, and then take the measurements to exactly where I am trying to go.

That is actually a good idea. The crimp fittings are larger in ID than the brass barb fittings typically seen, and larger in ID than the 1/4" Type I/M couplers, so there shouldn't be any real restriction to pressure and not much of one for flow at those pressures anyway, except for the 1/4" NPT at the end of the hoses / couplers. Not much I can do about those.

I was a bit concerned when I read, I think it was Capncarl who put the post up about his impact wrench having some trouble with pressure / flow through the reel. While I won't use it nearly as often as say nailers, or spray equipment, my pnuematic automotive tools are a must have for me, and making it easier to get the hose out to the ends of the driiveway around obstacles is no small part in the concept of getting the 50 footer versus say the 25 footer. However I have a LOT of time behind impact wrenches, compressors and these hose reels, or at least similar ones made by / sold by other places. (The last reels I used were stamped I believe Goodyear, and made in USA sometime in the 1960s...). You do recall in another thread that I mentioned I was a pump jockey / service station mechanic in the late 80s and well into the 90s before I got sick of the business and went back to college right? The last shop I worked at had those reels. Funniest part about that was... It was a Firestone dealer!

From what I have seen from the floor model at my local HF store, these reels look like reasonable copies of those old designs and except for quite possibly the build quality of the hose, and honestly, I am not buying this for the hose, but the reel instead, I can see this thing lasting decades in professional automotive service in an installation at least semi exposed to the elements. I cannot imagine one of these failing in my lifetime in a residential hobby / maintenance shop.

[dbhost]

Mine is up. Plumbing is via the 8 ft hose... tested pulling and retracting. Much smoother than I expected. Write up with pics coming...