sources for needle valves in the UK

As part of setting up a pressurised CO2 system I am researching sources for needle valves. Please bear in mind that I live in London,England.

I have found that 'Swagelok' and 'Clippard' valves are often recomended and have sourced both of them...

Swagelok valve - £36ea plus £7.50 shipping (direct from Swagelok UK)
Clippard Valve - £18ea plus £4.75 shipping (sadly with a minimum order of £25 from 'The West Group' who are the sole European distributors for Clippard).

No one in England has ever ordered the Clippard valve before! so I am waiting to see if they can actually get them in stock and what the lead time is.

So my questions are...

Can anyone recommend any other valves?
(Particularly ones that are cheap, easy to adjust, reliable and in stock somewhere in England. I want my cake and I want to eat it!)

Are the Clippard's good?
(I have heard mixed opinions elsewhere, but am keen to hear what you guys think).

Is the Swagelok worth the extra money over the Clippard?
(I would like to buy as cheap as is possible without sacrificing reliability or useability - so basically if I can justify that it is 'better' than the Clippard I'll *probably* spend the extra).

Does anyone want buy a Clippard valve off me?
(As I may end up buying 2 to beat the minimum order amount - I'd sell it for whatever it costs me, i.e. no profit would be made).

thanks for reading!
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Links:

Swagelok B-SS4 needle valve:
http://www.swagelok.com/shopping/product_detail.aspx?part=B-SS4&return_url=SS=B-SS4&RT=0&PG=0&RPR=0

Clippard MNV-4K2 needle valve:
http://www.clippard.com/store/display_details.asp?sku=MNV-4K2

 

Re: sources for needle valves in the UK

That's very helpful, thanks Neil

So far I've got a secondhand regulator coming my way via ebay (£13 inc p+p) and am looking for all the other components - needle valve, solenoid, and a CO2 tank.

Even with the postage costing as much the valve Aquaristic is my cheapest option so far!

Seeing how cheap they are, I may just sell my secondhand regulator back on ebay and buy a complete set from them! It's probably still a little more expensive than buying the individual parts, but only a little and I would get a guaranteed system and no faffing about getting different bits to work together.

choice, choices, fantastic .

 

Re: sources for needle valves in the UK

hhmmmmm. I can see this project getting cheaper every minute... and I have a friend who is a fireman

 

Re: sources for needle valves in the UK

Bill - that's good to know about the 2 valves.

Paul - Can you give me any more info on the valves you are getting from the states? What valves are they? When do you expect to know if they are definitely coming? and how much do you expect them to cost?

I've been generously offered a free sample valve from Clippard - it's the 'MNV-1K' though as that's the closest to the 4k2 they have in stock. Do you think this would be of any use?

I've tried to compare it to the MNV-4K2 but have no idea what the specs mean ...
http://www.clippard.com/store/display_details.asp?sku=MNV-1K
http://www.clippard.com/store/displ...asp?sku=MNV-4K2

 

Re: sources for needle valves in the UK

Hi Paul -

The pricing sounds very good (I appreciate they will come in a bit more than the $6.80 once you add your costs) and the fact that Tom uses them is enough quality assurance for me

I'm quite keen to get set up with CO2 as soon as I can so if you could PM me or reply to this thread when you know a rough date that you will have them available (and equally so if you decide not to get them!) it would be appreciated.

I have a couple of friends who are thinking of setting up CO2 as well (they have the good sense to let me do the legwork in sourcing the parts first!) so even if I get a valve for myself elsewhere sooner I may well want to obtain a valve or two off you anyway.