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Is A/C Spruce selling bogus fittings?

FAA part marking requirement

Look up the FAA reg on parts marking. Basically if the part is to small to mark it then the package must have the correct part number. With regards to standard fittings and hardware, they are manufactured to an approved specification usually AN/MS or NSA standard. With in these standards they may or may not have a part marking requirement. When a distributor orders these type of parts they get a COC ( certificate of conformance) for the batch of parts and not an 8130 tag.
 
Is ACS selling bogus fittings?

There is a difference between making a product to specification and certifying a product to a specification. I use to own a company making medical products as an FDA registered medical device manufacturer. We had our own ISO 13485 traceable to NTSB standards meteorology lab for certifying that our products met specification. I can without hesitation say that we worked on products where the cost of certification for exceeded the cost of manufacture which I believe Paul Dye was hinting to with NASA's method of operation.

It is one thing to manufacture a product to a specific standard and quite another to certify it to that standard. I am not sure what governing body controls the certifying standard of FAA hardware but who ever they are would have the testing, measuring etc standards necessary to provide certification requirements and standards needed to prove a product meets a particular standard or specification.

That is not to say a product truly made to a specification but not tested is unfit for use. It just means that not ALL testing using certified and calibrated equipment and associated paperwork was preformed. Often times there are "quick" functional tests performed during manufacturing that will with a very high degree of certainty demonstrate a quality functional product is being manufactured. Very few manufacturers would run batches of product waiting until the end of the run to know if product will meet specifications. The on going testing usually "tells the tale" that specifications are being met. The end certification just validates what test were done during manufacture.

It should also be understood that most certification processes represent a statistical sampling of a given lot. It does not guarantee 100% quality product or that an individual product will not fail in the field.

None of this gets to the question of counterfeit product or more concerning counterfeit product not produced to product specifications. How do you test the product in question? Do you test? Or, do you just buy product with the expected markings and move on?

If ACS has the means of testing fittings to the standard specifications or has the manufactures "certs" then they are making a true statement. That true statement does not mean 100% of product is tested or not counterfeit.

Since we are talking about fittings I believe most of us are concerned that it doesn't leak (remember the mating component could be the cause of the leak) and doesn't break (fitness for use). What are quick easy non destructive tests that could be preformed to demonstrate non leakage or breakage?

I have had leakage (solved by "DEL" fittings from ACS) but have not experienced or know anyone experiencing AN fitting breakage (this would include using AN (or AN type) fitting purchase from car race shops used in airplanes.

Rocky
 
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