compressed air dryer

Depending on the compressor you are running, you may have to put in a D-2 governor, but it was a pretty cheap setup for me. I am a diesel mechanic and I had the parts available so I just MacGievered it to work.
 
Albatross Cues said:
For me the air drying was pretty easy and cheap. I picked up a Bendix AD-9 off of a wrecked semi. It has a purge valve right in the bottom of the air dryer, purges every time the compressor cycles. I figured if it worked for equipment, it would have to work for drying the air for painting. I still run the inline disposable filters on the gun just as a safety.

I have checked into the air dryers from Snap-on and down at the local auto body shops. If you make friends with the local painter/auto paint suppliers, they can be a world of knowledge as they do this everyday.

The AD-9 works great for me, only changed the desiccant cartridge a couple times in God knows how many years. The purge valve kits are cheap and easy to replace, and the cartridges are readily available. They also have heaters in the bottom of them for you folks that live in cold environments, and might have the possibility of dealing with ice. Never needed that particular option, but if your compressor is outside it would keep the dryer from freezing up and not purging.

This is just one of many options available, but works well for me.

Aloha
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Very Nice set up!

Necessity is the mother of invention.
 
pescadoman said:
Here is the thread I was looking for...

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50946&page=2#40
Click to expand...

Very nice set-up and for what appears not a lot of money. In past years I put a lot of money in equipment but put up with a lot of things that would have made life much easier. I never put a digital read out on any of my lathes or mill although it makes turning so much easier. I've put up with fighting to get a good finish and a number of other things.

Now that I'm in the twilight of my cue making career I'm catching up with others. I purchased a digital read out this week and am about to go off on a much better air delivery system. I've got a Coleman 5 H/P compressor with a 60 gal. tank. The compressor is about worn out as it kicks on about every 5 min. I bought a new compressor about a year ago but haven't mounted it yet. I've got rubber air lines running all through my shop instead of iron or copper pipe. This is about to change however. I've spent the evening on checking prices of running black pipe or copper pipe throughout my shop. I'll need about 130 feet of pipe and of course a lot of fittings.

The problem with black pipe is the necessity of cutting threads on each piece that I cut. 3/4" copper costs more than the iron but I can solder pretty good. I guess copper will hold 150 lbs. of pressure. Would 1/2" copper be okay instead of 3/4 inch? It's quite a bit cheaper.

I've got around 10 spray guns but they're of no account except for my Sata. I've been using a UV finish totally for the last year or so but I bought some auto finish today so, I need another good gun.

Dick
 
rhncue said:
Very nice set-up and for what appears not a lot of money. In past years I put a lot of money in equipment but put up with a lot of things that would have made life much easier. I never put a digital read out on any of my lathes or mill although it makes turning so much easier. I've put up with fighting to get a good finish and a number of other things.

Now that I'm in the twilight of my cue making career I'm catching up with others. I purchased a digital read out this week and am about to go off on a much better air delivery system. I've got a Coleman 5 H/P compressor with a 60 gal. tank. The compressor is about worn out as it kicks on about every 5 min. I bought a new compressor about a year ago but haven't mounted it yet. I've got rubber air lines running all through my shop instead of iron or copper pipe. This is about to change however. I've spent the evening on checking prices of running black pipe or copper pipe throughout my shop. I'll need about 130 feet of pipe and of course a lot of fittings.

The problem with black pipe is the necessity of cutting threads on each piece that I cut. 3/4" copper costs more than the iron but I can solder pretty good. I guess copper will hold 150 lbs. of pressure. Would 1/2" copper be okay instead of 3/4 inch? It's quite a bit cheaper.

I've got around 10 spray guns but they're of no account except for my Sata. I've been using a UV finish totally for the last year or so but I bought some auto finish today so, I need another good gun.

Dick
Click to expand...

Go copper. 1/2 is plenty. Should hold pressure fine. Depends on your sweating ability.
 
pescadoman said:
Go copper. 1/2 is plenty. Should hold pressure fine. Depends on your sweating ability.
Click to expand...

Great! The 1/2" hard copper is only 7.55 per 10' section and the fittings are around .45 each. I can't hardly wait to get started on it. I believe that I'm going to build that after cooler that you gave a link to also. The race car cooler for oil doesn't look to be big enough to help a lot (9 X 9.75 X 1.5") though.

Dick
 
The one advantage of going 3/4" to your drops is that extra 1/4" Dia. multiplied thru the lengths of the runs, adds up to increased air storage and air cooling. Almost like having a second tank for storage. Your compressor will run a bit longer to 'fill' everything, but it will add volume to your total air storage and the compressor will run a bit less, how much I'm not sure, but it does play a part. It will also allow the air to cool a bit more that 1/2" would...not a lot, but any amount helps.
Dave
 
How often do you evacuate your air tank? They sell quality air compressor filters with regulators on ebay for a very fair price. We have one of their systems, actually it is 4 filters in sequence in our line. The last one of the four having the regulator and it works flawless. We only paid around $50 each. And we evacuate our tanks at least 2-3 times per week. We also run a dehumidifier next to our compressor for added moisture surrounding the tank, it helps. We run 1/2 inch line and do not have to fight moisture at all.
 
rhncue said:
Very nice set-up and for what appears not a lot of money. In past years I put a lot of money in equipment but put up with a lot of things that would have made life much easier. I never put a digital read out on any of my lathes or mill although it makes turning so much easier. I've put up with fighting to get a good finish and a number of other things.

Now that I'm in the twilight of my cue making career I'm catching up with others. I purchased a digital read out this week and am about to go off on a much better air delivery system. I've got a Coleman 5 H/P compressor with a 60 gal. tank. The compressor is about worn out as it kicks on about every 5 min. I bought a new compressor about a year ago but haven't mounted it yet. I've got rubber air lines running all through my shop instead of iron or copper pipe. This is about to change however. I've spent the evening on checking prices of running black pipe or copper pipe throughout my shop. I'll need about 130 feet of pipe and of course a lot of fittings.

The problem with black pipe is the necessity of cutting threads on each piece that I cut. 3/4" copper costs more than the iron but I can solder pretty good. I guess copper will hold 150 lbs. of pressure. Would 1/2" copper be okay instead of 3/4 inch? It's quite a bit cheaper.

I've got around 10 spray guns but they're of no account except for my Sata. I've been using a UV finish totally for the last year or so but I bought some auto finish today so, I need another good gun.

Dick
Click to expand...

if i wasnt in my twilight too,
and way past my twilight for plumbing,:sorry:
i could help you out with this
for copper air lines, L copper is required
also silver soldered ( 95/5 ) ,
( or at least it WAS by code) been out of the game for awhile now as you know
same as it was for nitreous oxide ( laughing gas )
i plumbed probably around 15 dental offices around cincinnati

could you get away with M copper & 50/50 solder?
probably, if you dont have to deal with any inspections or insurance companies.
it will withstand 150 psi.
that was my minimum 24 hour test for all copper i ran

codes were crazy overkill :rolleyes:
if the bldg is burning enough to melt 50/50 solder joints,
you better be out of that suna***** anyway

i did a couple testing facilites around town too that spec'ed pvc air lines
has to be schedule 80 though not the cheap stuff (schedule 40)

back then it was much more expensive than copper,
especially the fittings,
but since copper has tripled in price since i quit 10 yrs ago,
as evidenced by all the copper thieving going on nowadays,
that might now be more feasible

 
Ill second the Rapidair systems, I put the 1/2" in my garage/shop and will be putting the 3/4 Maxline in my new shop im building and it will be buried as well. It is very easy to install, the 1/2" is push in fittings and they dont leak, plus if you want to change anything you can remove them.
Northern tool sells it along with Amazon.

Kit I used in my garage/shop
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200367525_200367525

3/4" maxline kit will be buried going in new shop
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200484023_200484023
 
cutter said:
Another alternative. they have some decent videos.
http://www.rapidairproducts.com/index.asp
I went this way for ease of installation.
Code won't let us use pvc here. Shatters to easily.
But I'm in a comercial building, no problem in a home
shop.
Click to expand...

I FORGOT about Rapidaire, but when I was looking at the kits(years ago) all I saw were the flexible lines.

That aluminum pipe looks pretty neat!!!!

I'd never use pvc for air......
 
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