Swagelok Insights | Tube Fitting Essentials

To perform the assembly of Swagelok tube fittings you will need two open-ended wrenches, the gap inspection gauge, tube cutter, deburring tool and a marker pen.

Correct and accurate installation will ensure of a leak-tight seal up to the pressure rating of tubing used. It's also important to note that the tube fittings are assembled ready for installation, there is no need to disassemble the fitting before hand. When inserting the tubing into the fitting, the tubing needs to be correctly 'bottomed' to ensure of a fully leak-tight seal that provides longevity. The exact tightness of the sealing nut is also key to providing a strong seal that is vibration resistant, whilst accurate and clinical preparation of the tubing is also vitally important to the performance of your fluid system - this can be explored further down this page.

To perform tube bending you will need a hand tube bender corresponding to the tubing size, tubing, marker pen and a protractor if required.

The minimum required wall thickness of 1/4" stainless-steel tubing is 0.71mm in order to ensure the material will not fail after bending and being installed into your fluid system. The hand tube bender is capable of creating bends up to 180 degrees in multiple directions.

In order to achieve consistent and accurate tube bends across varying distances and directions, there is a set of mathematical equations to successfully bend as required.

To ensure of the most consistent tube end preparation you will need a tube cutter, tube deburring tool, marker pen, tape measure and sufficient personal protective equipment.

As with ensuring the best possible preparation has taken place, identifying imperfections with tubing before preparation is critical as defects such as scratches or marks could affect the media within your fluid system. This is especially critical within industries such as semiconductor and healthcare, other precautious may also be required such as the use of a designated clean room facility.

Contaminated media within a fluid system can have serious detrimental affects on the final output of your media, or the final product that has been manufactured using the media, both resulting in financial impact.