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Draft shanks that are not to standard

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  • Draft shanks that are not to standard

    I've been developing some filling equipment, and a few days ago I purchased several draft shanks from a local Seattle supplier to connect to for testing purposes. They're a generic (I presume Chinese) brand. A regular cheapo faucet fits these fine. The business end of the filler uses a Micromatic quarter turn valve that is supposed to mount to the shank, but it doesn't fit these. I have a shank that's at least 35 years old, and it mates up perfectly, so I don't think the problem is with the Micromatic part; more likely the Chinese crappy shank. The Chinese shank looks like the splines were swaged, but the older shank is either machined, or very carefully swaged.

    I've ordered some Perlick shanks, so hopefully these are better made and will fit. In the meantime, my question is this:

    Has anyone else noticed variations in shanks that prevent a faucet from mating up correctly? Care to mention the brand, so I can be wary of them in any installations I might need to do?

    Regards,
    Mike Sharp

  • #2
    Sounds like you may have a european threaded shank. I believe it is 1/2" BSP

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    • #3
      Originally posted by jebzter View Post
      Sounds like you may have a european threaded shank. I believe it is 1/2" BSP
      I thought the same thing, because the valve is made in Italy. Are the splines for a European shank different as well?

      What's odd is the Italian valve fits perfectly with a shank I've used in a kegerator for several decades, and I'm certain that shank is US made. It came out of a General Motors refrigerator from the early '50s.

      The problem is that the splined socket doesn't quite fit over the splined end of the shank, and the nut doesn't reach the threads. On my old shank, the socket and shank nest perfectly. When I measure the outer diameter of the shanks I got from the draft supply house, they're slightly larger than the ID of the valve's splined socket (which would be the faucet end). Maybe only a few thousands...it's hard to measure precisely, because of the splines.

      I'm basically trying to find out if this is a fluke, due to the cheapo shanks, or whether I can expect to have problems with some brands. I always thought the splined part of the shank where the faucet fits on was standard across the industry. I'll snap some pics of the issue and post them.

      Thanks for the response!

      Mike

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      • #4
        The spline end of a faucet shank is standardized.

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        • #5
          Just to close this subject...the new shanks I ordered fit perfectly. The problem was with the el-cheapo shanks that I originally bought. The supplier only had the one brand AFAIK. Thanks all for the help.

          Mike

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