The PipeandHose Journey Continues…

It's been over a decade since the inception of PipeandHose.com, and I thought I should lay out a brief synopsis of our history, just in case anyone's interested. 

What Started it All

One day, back in 2005 or 06, I had put some pipe thread dimensional data tables in an obscure place on my own personal website. It happened that I was at the time designing and building a water cooling system for my small plastic injection facility, which included five injection mold presses. These machines were of Japanese and Korean origin, and I noticed that their pipe fittings didn't fit our hardware store pipe fittings here in Southern Oregon. Also, many of their hydraulic fittings were "different and unique."

In the course of this project I also discovered that here in North America there exist two distinct threaded hose fitting standards (namely, NST/NH and NPSH). 

Anyway, a couple weeks after I posted some reference information to the back pages of my personal blog, I somehow noticed that typing the search word "BSPT" into Google resulted in my blog showing up very near the top of the list on the SERP (search engine results page). Also, my logs showed people visiting my blog after searching this term. For obvious reasons, this got me thinking… 

"Out of every website on earth, is mine one of a small handful that are presenting this information?!?"

and, 

"Hmmm... I wonder if there is some way I could capitalize on this phenomenon..?"

Turned out, the answer to the first question was "yes," as was subsequently evidenced by our pagerank in the early weeks and months after launching this site. 

Now, since that time, many new sites have come along, publishing content containing the keywords and information which were once more unique to PipeandHose.com. This fact, coupled with the fact that for years PipeandHose.com fell into stagnation and disrepair, has resulted in the loss of our once lofty position in the search rankings. Some may recall the consistently unfulfilled promise of "great things coming soon," as advertised here. Well, I'm happy that we are finally delivering on that promise. 

Now, as I work to recover what has been lost through neglect, the other day I ran across this comment in a forum (this is a paraphrase):

"As you read the various articles on the web [regarding this topic], it appears that they all come from one source… like one guy wrote it, and everyone is quoting him."

I must say that as I read that comment, I enjoyed a moment of the "endorphins of validation." Because I know the exact text (which came from PipeandHose.com) that he was talking about. 

So now I have shared with the world a gratuitous insight into the mind of the author. Haha!—like anyone cares… 

Our Future Course

So here's our goal… We want to make PipeandHose.com become the place everyone goes when they're looking for a fitting. It's really that simple. What we are putting together here is an easy way to drill down quickly to the exact fitting you seek, and then click through to any of numerous sources from which you can make your purchase. Augmenting this functionality, we will provide copious supplemental and educational information, equipping our users with knowledge to help them in their quest. 

So let's all just get out there and fit some pipes! (or tubes, or hoses… and stuff)! 

Yeah! 

Okay, maybe I don't actually hate thread tape. It's pretty handy stuff, and it doesn't get all over your fingers and everything you touch afterward. But I hate it and here's why...

Sometimes you have to insert and remove a given fitting routinely. I know, pipe threads aren't meant to be used as quick disconnect fitments, but there are some cases where insertion and removal of a threaded fitting is part of the routine process. In a case like that, if you use thread tape, the stuff just starts to wad up toward the base of the thread after a few uses. The first few times you just pile more on each time you screw it in. Then after several cycles you find yourself spending, like, a minute or two on each one digging the old tape off the thing with your finger nail, fastidiously unwrapping it like you're unwinding a bobbin of thread—only the stuff just tears off over and over again, and never quite comes clean. Finally you just say, "screw it," wrap some more tape back on, and then actually screw it... in, that is.

I also hate pipe dope.

The stuff never hardens, which, I suppose, is a good thing. Otherwise you'd never get the thing apart without a torch or some other unseemly "tool." But the stuff never dries. It just keeps coming back off your fingers, transferring itself onto every cotton-pickin' surface of every object in the shop. It's like the Prussian Blue we always put on the milling machine handle just before the new guy starts his second day of work. It just keeps going and going. It gets everywhere: on his forehead, his glasses, his face. Hilarious, right? Pipe dope is the same way. I hate that stuff.

So here's my solution... A timely tip, from me to you. Three letters:

• RTV

I love this stuff. First off, sure, it kinda stinks, and it can be a mess. But if you keep a rag handy, you can actually wipe it off your fingers. And unlike pipe dope, it actually dries and [sort of] hardens up in a reasonable amount of time. Not only that, but it actually seals. Plus, you can clean the old stuff off the used fitting with relative ease.

I'm not suggesting you use it on a 2000 psi hydraulic system, but for low pressure applications, such as cooling lines on an injection mold, RTV is my go-to goo.

My favorite brand? Permatex. They've got your High-Temp, your Sensor-Safe, your Oil Resistant... Whatever you need.