Fitting assembly evaluating apparatus

Apparatus to pre-install a conduit gripping device and a female threaded nut on a conduit, the apparatus comprising:

• a camming surface and a clamping member, said clamping member being disposed to contact the female threaded nut when the female threaded nut is installed in the apparatus, wherein the female threaded nut comprises a drive surface that contacts the conduit gripping device when the conduit gripping device is disposed between the female threaded nut and said camming surface,
• a clamping device comprising an actuator that is operable to produce relative axial movement between said camming surface and said clamping member so that compression of the conduit gripping device against said camming surface will pre-install the conduit gripping device and the female threaded nut on a conduit, said actuator and said clamping member being operable to move said drive surface and said camming surface axially together to a predetermined axial stroke of said drive surface and said camming surface relative to each other,
• a sensor having an electrical characteristic that indicates when said camming surface and said drive surface are at said predetermined axial stroke relative to each other,
• said clamping device comprising a stop surface that is axially positioned to contact the female threaded nut to control axial stroke of said drive surface relative to said camming surface so that said drive surface and said camming surface are moved relative to each other to said predetermined axial stroke when pre-installing the conduit gripping device and the female threaded nut on the conduit.