Fitting braided steel lines to fittings

> It has been my experience that the worse part of making up stainless steel hoses is jamming the
> fittings into the hose -- several big grunt sessions.

Note:  When cutting braided steel lines  you wrap the hose tightly with tape first then cut the hose through the tape to keep the braiding in place and to minimize damage to the braiding.

With braided steel the trick is how and when you remove the tape. Make sure it's really tight before you cut, then cut and dress the end, push the inner fitting into the tube to round out the tubing and tighten the braid against the tape. Get your outer fitting in the vise (use aluminium jaw covers) and wipe a drop of oil around the end. Pull out the inner fitting, take off the tape and immediately insert it into the outer fitting. If you wait 20 seconds the braid will shift and make it a lot harder.

I also make sure to get the tube right up to the inner stop by looking in the end, then mark the tube with a sharpie right at the edge of the outer fitting. Put a tiny bit of oil on the inner fitting and make up the connection. check your mark to make sure the tube didn't back out of the outer fitting too much. It probably won't at all with "modern" fittings. the older (and actually better) cutter fittings push the tube out more as you make them up.

Bill Babcock

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