[www.glass-gardens.com]

Yeah, but Troy, (is that your name? Common man, use your name for crying out loud!) on the other hand, I do not quite trust Bryan's (of Milwaukee) knowledge or judgement in this area. Epoxy? What does that mean? Every regulator has a needle valve that is fixed with some kind of sealant. Removing it should not be any big deal. I could be wrong, but I can't really see how the Milwaukee should be any different. Milwaukee does not make any manifold. The big difference between them is that the JBJ has a fixed working pressure.

The "epoxy" actually appears to be more of some type of "locktite" compound, it really doesn't give easily without a little heat like locktite. But then my JBJ was a bear to wrench apart as well, and it defintiely had a similar substance on it. The heat just softens it a bit and with a 40 watt iron, the heats focused on the joint.

And yes, it's Troy, and I don't see where I can change my user name to common man :?

The biggest problem I have with the JBJ IS that it's a fixed pressure, I want to be able to adjust it, and the one I have reads 50 PSI line pressure, what am I doing with it, inflating tires? I tried to tap off of it with Class A 68PSI tubing with the needle valve by a the tank and it blew it right off the fitting. I'm sure that's atypical of the JBJ line but it's also a matter of personal choice as to whether or not adjustable pressure is neccessary.

Milwaukee doesn't make a manifold to be certain, but myself, I'd rather make the thing I need which really isn't all that hard, or there are more than a few aftermarket options, like your inline manifold which incidentally I steered a potential customer to the other day. I just went to Lowe's bought about $6.00 worth of brass fittings, got a few Clippard valves from a wholeslaer and built exactly what I needed. I've even had good success with a $3.00 needle valve from Lowe's, all it took was the ability to set the line pressure to suit the valve for consistent bubble rate.

 

[aquatic-store.com]

You could also use the 6 way splitter and run it directly to your tubing. The hex manifold has an attachment that you don't even hae to screw onto anything.
This comes with individual needle valves as well.
http://www.aquatic-store.com/index.html?target=dept_537.html&lang=en-us

That is the piece in my hand

Bigger pictures on the site

Marcus

Http://www.aquatic-store.com

 

[Roger Miller]

If you're uncomfortable with taking a regulator assembly apart (I am) then you might be able to find someone who does it for a living and have them do it for you.

I wanted the solenoid taken out of my JBJ assembly, so when I switched my 5 lb bottle out at the gas supplier I took the regulator along with me. I asked if they had someone who could take out the solenoid. They didn't but they referred me to a guy who rebuilds regulators. I paid $20 to have him take out the solenoid and replace it with a straight adapter about the same length.

If it came to screwing a manifold directly into the regulator assembly I'd probably take the whole thing back to him again and get it installed right.


Roger Miller

 

[www.glass-gardens.com]

The safest way to take your assembly apart is to remove the gauges first, then you can clamp the regulator body in something while you disassemble the plumbing. The key since the fittings are brass is to use the right size wrenches otherwise you stand a good chance of just rounding off the fittings. As I suggested earlier, a bit of heat from a soldering iron helps a great deal as long as your careful with it.

Personally, if I were to do one now, the inline manifold Robert has looks very attractive for the money, and even the 3 way he has could be used in line since it appears to have compression fittings on it that would accept tuning. For the money it seems to be a great value.

 

[dennis]

Troy What working pressure did you find worked? I have a homemade 2 way manifuld, like Steve Pituch linked, that I use to run (obviously) 2 tanks. I have some trouble with flucuating pressures, and therefore, buble rates into my tanks. I used cheaper valves from my local hardware store. They work good but as the pressure of hte bottle changes (due to temp changes. New england gets a bit cool at night some times. I don't have central air or anything My regulator is one I bought from the local brew shop, 2 valve. I am sure there are beter things out htere but it was convinent I seem to need to adjust the needle valves every day or so. ANy sugggestions. What PSI would you set the output of hte regulator to?

Oh, and I believe the Troy thing was that you could sign your name at the bottom of your posts. Personally, it would be nice to know the name of a potential buisness I might wan tto shop with

 

[Troy Hendrickson]

Oops, sorry bout that Dennis, I wasn't paying attention and answered logged into my old account.

With the cheapo hardware store needle valve (which I eventually replaced with a Clippard that doesn't seem to be all that much better except for a bit more adjustment) I was running about 10 pounds PSI and got a fairly steady bubble rate into a Hagen ladder. The Clippard needs a little more for the same app, about 15 PSI.

Here in Iowa we have parts of the season where we get wide temp swings, and in the summer we have AC and in the winter heat that we have set to deviate by as much as 10 degrees during the overnight hours with no problems. I've seen the tank pressure fluctuate but never the line pressure really, at least as indicated on the gauges.

We're testing a SMC PVC needle valve right now that so far has been as good as the clippard at half the price.

 

[Daemonfly]

I bought a 6-way manifold to fit on my JBJ regulator. I think I got it from aquatic-store.com, but I can't access that site right now to verify

Anyway, all I had to do was open the JBJ needle valve all the way, pop the tubing nut off and the manifold screwed on to the threaded end of the needle valve (Didn't have to mess with dissassembling the JBJ setup). I then use the 6 needle valves on the manifold to adjust CO2. I have smaller tanks, so the 6-way on a non-adjustable JBJ isn't a problem as theres not that much CO2 going through it all.