PowermateVx 041-0097CT 2-Way Air Manifold

This is another case of "you get what you pay for". For $5.49, is what I paid for it, it's not bad. I was about to make one myself but it would have costed me more in time than this, so I opted to buy one instead of making one.I already have a 6-port manifold that I've been using but it's a waste, since my application, CNC plasma table, only needs 2 ports. The 6-port I have came from McMaster, and was royally expensive for what was delivered. However, that part was anodized and everything fit up and I was working in no-time. This part however, what a no-brainer product, right?First of all, the part I got was not "pink", as shown in the picture. Good enough, because I don't care for pink. It isn't even red. It was just polished. Since it is polished aluminum, I doubt it was anodized at all. Color doesn't matter, once it's setup and mounted, I'll never see it again, so even if it was pink, who cares.Next is the final QC. Of course, for $5.59, what else do you expect, yeah? Well there were aluminum chips inside the port holes. Yeah, if those chips makes their way into your equipment, you will wish you spent another $20 for one of better-than-great quality. It's easy enough to clean the chips out, but I fear most people wouldn't even notice, and cause themselves a lot of grief. In my case, I'm running plasma. If those aluminum chips melted in the nozzle, or gets stuck in the hose... I don't even want to imagine.A third caveat... for a simple $5 part. Yeah. You see the set screw in the photo? Well, to my surprise, the set screw APPEARS to be stainless steel, which is a nice touch. Well, that set screw came off and staying off. Once I plugged everything in, I got a horrible air leak. I thought it was coming from my hoses or fittings. I changed all the fittings and I still got a horrible leak. After feeling around for air, the leak was coming from the set screw. As I have been having really bad luck with threads coming out of you-know-where, I decided to check it out. I had a sneaky suspicion about it at the very beginning, but for some reason, it was the last thing I checked. Low and behold, the set screw was not sealed. Ok, there is a little gunk on it, but there was enough to go around 2 threads, with room. So I cleaned it all up and applied teflon tape. That didn't work either, so I wrapped about 10 turns of teflon. Still leaked. So screws and fittings I've been getting lately have been awfully loose. I measured the set screw and it seemed to about 1/2", so I went to get a REAL 1/2-13 bolt and try it. The screw seemed a bit loose, but I tried it anyway. No go. My next guess is a M12 but M12 is smaller than 1/2. I have never seen a M13 screw in my life so my though turned to 1/4 NPT. Sure enough, 2 turns of teflon on a 1/4 NPT plug sealed it all up. So, a set screw is shown in the photo but you will need to replace it with a 1/4 NTP to make it work properly.So in the end, it probably costed me the full $20+ of buying a reputable manifold than fussing with this cheap manifold. It's a no-brainer part, and for what it is, it's not horrible, but it just wasn't done right, which lead to more time/money invested than necessary.Do I recommend this item? Sure, why not. Just have a 1/4 NPT plug handy, or turn it into a 3-port manifold. I may end up doing that since my blast chamber is nearby and I can chain it from there.

Good for the value but it came with a plug that had threadlock on it. It was very hard to get loose and had to use a torch on it to loosen. Ended up scratching it from using pliers to get a strong grip on it.

End bolt leaks like crazy, and have had no luck removing it as it looks like it's the wrong size, and was forced in there. So the end bolt is at an angle.Don't recommend

Did what I wanted it to ,works well

I'm building a custom welding cart, this manifold unit is essential to the features being applied and it worked perfect thanks.