Incompatable Foster fittings?

[Phil.Probe]

I bought a Great White CF 4,500 psi tank and fill station a few weeks ago. It works fine to fill up my AEA via a fill-probe inserted into the foster fitting, but the other day I tired to use the foster fitting to fill up my marauder. It does not fit. I also tried to connect up my gold filter and YH pump to the tank via the supplied foster fitting from ATFS and they didn't fit either.

I contacted airtanksforsale.com and they told me they would replace it under warranty, but didn't offer any insight into why their stuff was incompatible with the foster fitting I have. I'm afraid the replacement won't be any different. What gives?

On another note, I have to bitch a little. The one dive shop near me told me they would fill to "about" 4,000psi. By the time I got the tank home it was at 3,200psi. Fire stations won't fill tanks and there aren't any paint ball stores, so I'm stuck using my YH. Not the end of the world, but I kind of pissed that I was flat out lied to by the dive shop.

 

[dizzums]

there is no standard for these fittings .. what i suggest is using the marauder male as a baseline and outfit your hoses and fill apparatus to all work together .. id use steel .. you only need a set number, and id recommend fx brand females, pyramids got them .. of course you can utlize ones you have that arnt problematic, but id get rid of the tight ones ... dont fit the mrod - trash it ..

 

[Ranchibi]

That is one niggle for us airgunners....no apparent size standard for foster fittings, male and female. My RAW's male foster didn't quite fit with my DonnyFl extended female foster adapter, but my Prods male fits perfectly. I used 800 grit sand paper and a little jewelers rouge to very mildly smooth down the RAW's male foster nipple, now it fits perfectly. If you do this, do it in very small increments and check after each short sanding, then follow up finishing with the rouge to smooth it out.

 

[LMNOP]

See https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/safe-or-not-male-foster-fitting-bearing-wear/?referrer=1 and auxillary to that https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/protective-blast-cage/page/2/

 

[biohazardman]

Looks like I put this in the wrong post so I will put it here.

The females come with four, five, or six bearings.

Although most say they are rated for 4500psi I would guess that the units with more bearings would distribute the force more evenly and cause less damage to their male counterpart.

But with that said the male fittings need to be made of the right material and hardness as well.

No matter what they are made of they will all eventually wear so inspect them frequently to stay on the safe side.

I have had good luck with the USA made Ninja fittings but as they do not fit with most of my Chinese filters and fittings I use whatever I can find that fits on those.

 

[Bobbybeef]

Yes that’s a pain in the butt foster fittings vary per manufacture I have some from best fittings and they don’t fit fx coupler

 

[Phil.Probe]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the responses. I guess I'll buy some new female connectors from pyramid air. Not a big deal, but it does seem ridiculous to have to spend even more money on this after dropping $925 for a tank and fill station. I can shoot powder on my property and sometimes I wish I'd just bought a rimfire rifle. A lot less headaches.

 

[Nomadic Pirate 66]

It happens way more then is advertised,



Can't stand the Foster system, give me probes anyday

 

[MikeVV]

As is noted above.

Also, buy ONLY from reputable sources. While not a guarantee, you have a better chance of receiving higher quality parts.

I also bought my tank and fittings from Topgun-Airguns. Having a little experience with various fittings, I looked over Joes parts and was happy with what I received. Six ball female fitting, slightly larger shoulder diameter than many of the male fittings that I've received with my various guns and adapter fittings. A nice chamfer on the lead-in for the female o-ring. Although I don't know the actual material, so far it's holdup just fine.

I would not hesitate to buy air fittings from Topgun-Airguns again. I've bought from Best Fittings (UK) and been happy with their parts. I haven't yet, but I will be buying probes from Huma.

I would NOT...buy from Amazon, eBay, and such..!



Mike

 

[delooper]

I've noticed that two essentially-the-same fittings from the same company may have slightly different geometry. I've had one fit my air tank, and the 2nd one does not. 

Often I find when they don't fit, all it means is I have to squeeze "extra hard" to get them to click and lock. But it can be a pain applying all that force -- or scary when I find out it didn't fully click, when I pressurize the lines. 

 

[scopecreep...]

Yong Heng and other Chinese fittings often have a bit too much metal on the face preventing lock. My compressor and Gold mechanical filter's fittings would not connect to a Carette filter. Joe recommended sanding the face a bit to remove just enough material so it locks. Less than three seconds with a belt sander, shouldn't take much longer with an emery board.