Question: Whip lines for air tools.

[Jaeger_S2k]

All my air tools happily run on an Aldi retractable air line.
I was wanting to reduce the pulling and twisting of the airline at the tool.
I have this airline, Festo Airline 10 mm. My thoughts are to fit a Festo swivel connection elbow, making a whip line for each tool.
Anyone with knowledge, of the Festo and would it be able to cope with mobile working and abuse of nailing, pinning, tyre inflating etc. without the need to be precious about them?
I'd be getting the fittings from ebay as they are so much more economical.

 

[hotponyshoes]

I bought a roll of Redash (I think) air hose to make up all the whips out of.
It's lovely hose, lasts very very well and is really flexible.
It's only the cost of the stuff that stops me using it for everything.
I just have 1m or so on each tool which gives you most of the benefits of the flexibility without the cost.

I've fitted the bluepoint swivel couplings to a few tools but removed most of them again.
They have held up fine but on something like a tyre inflator/impact gun I found it was better to have a more ridgid connection as you can flick the airline around by moving the tool.
The bluepoint/snap-on ones also look like you can replace the seals if required although I've not had any leak yet.

The only thing I have the swivels connected to now are a couple of overhead airlines that are suspended on tool balancers. Generally only use them for drilling holes in sheet metal rather than drag an airline over a sharp edge.

Admittedly, I mostly use cordless stuff now though. Even for tyres. The cordless inflator takes far longer to inflate (maybe not if the big compressors are empty and you have to put the airline away) but it shuts itself off at the set pressure and is just so much easier than dragging airline around

 

[MetalMonkey]

I use Alfagomma 185AA for my air hoses and put a short (approx 0.5m) whip of the same stuff on most of my air tools.
It is a very flexible but robust synthetic hose, you don't want anything too stiff or with much of a "memory", as this will get very frustrating.

If you using whips then I would avoid using swivels, they are really only useful if you have the coupler at the tool and need the swivel joint to get it out of the way.
If you use O clips to secure the hose to the barbs, you will get a low profile connector which has less of a tendency to get caught on things than a jubilee style clip.

 

[hotponyshoes]

/\ yes, ear clips or ferrules are a big improvement over screw clips.

You can normally cut down the length of the hose barb with those as well which gives a noticeable improvement on the handling

 

[8ob]

I am converting all of mine to the Flexilla type hose, super flexi no matter what the temperature, bought a 20mtr hose about 25 years ago and its still as good as new.

Flexzilla Custom Length Whip Hose with High Flow Ball Swivel (HFZP3806YW2B)

Flexzilla HFZP3806YW2B custom length whip hose with high flow ball swivel offers superior flexibility and durability for air tools in various environments.

gb.jbtools.com

Bob

 

[Morrisman]

/\ yes, ear clips or ferrules are a big improvement over screw clips.

You can normally cut down the length of the hose barb with those as well which gives a noticeable improvement on the handling

We used Pushlok hose and hose barbs where I worked offshore, no clips necessary, which made things more simple, less to snag.

Certain types of hose connectors had the habit of firing apart if you even tapped them on something while dragging your whip hose across a bench, so we found some with the opening ring needed pulling to undo them, rather than pressing.

 

[Turbo]

I have whip hoses on any air tool that vibrates like nut guns, needle gun, etc. Not really needed on other stuff.

For stuff that needs to be flexible in use like spray guns I fitted cheap swivels from lidl. They work very well, allowing the air hose to run long my arm.

I use the double click push button safety connectors. Safer in use and allow you to isolate the tool but leave it still connected to the airline.

 

[Trevorleach]

I like whip hoses as they move the bulky connector away from the tool, only air tool I have actually felt it was defo needed for vibes was air chisel.