- Those vintage USD Tank Checkers you see on Ebay are often priced really cheap. And yet they have some really elegant fittings compared to modern tank checkers. When I got into filling my Twin 38s by Cascade, it occurred to me how easy it would be to just convert a tank checker into a cascade whip. The end with the gauge goes on the tank to be filled. And you can watch your fill pressure climb to the desired pressure.
- This past Summer I've been fixing up a 1980s Aerotecnica Coltri compressor that never had a Back Pressure Regulator (BPR). The original configuration had a direct hose to a yoke with gauge on it. You would just close the tank valve when you reached your desired pressure and then open the drain valves and shut the compressor off. Well, for more efficient moisture removal, I screwed a Back Pressure Regulator onto the final filter tube and attached a modern fill whip with gauge, on/off valve, and bleed valve. It worked fine until the BPR broke off (from metal fatigue I think).
- So then I made this new fill whip from a tank checker. It attaches to the final filter tube with just a hose like the original configuration. But now the BPR is on the end of the whip with a gauge, yoke, and bleed valve... And it still works fine as a tank checker!
I recall heading to a local machine shop and asking them to make such an adapter for the HP hoses. Prior to that I was using a pigtail to transfer air. Hahaha!