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Re: Air driers

To: daniels@tamu.edu, shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Air driers
From: cak@dimebank.com (Chris Kantarjiev)
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 11:01:20 -0700
Is there an archive for this list? :-)

Here's what I have. The compressor (oilless, noisy) sits outside in a little 
shed
to try to quiet the noise. I have a 50' hose coiled up in a 
5 gallon bucket with a lid; this is the primary condensor. (I considered
building something fancy from an old a/c condensor or copper tubing
with convection water cooling but this works just fine! For reall
hot days I fill the bucket with cold water.)

There's a standard, run of the mill dryer mounted on the wall after
this hose. That goes into the garage plumbing. This collects 
a lot of water; I use an "auto-drain" unit here, since it's not
very convenient to get to. (The compressor is on a switched outlet,
which switch is by the garage light switches.)

I have an oiler/dryer unit that consists of a mail quick-connect,
a ball valve, a dryer, a T, a ball valve, an oiler, a female quick
connect. At the T is a different style of female quick connect;
this is the one used for all my "clean air" devices (spray guns, 
sand blasters) - those devices get their own hose which has never
seen oil. The ball valve in the middle lets me make certain that
no oil gets forced into the clean line when I disconnect from the
exit of the oiler. This is mounted on a little bracket that catches
the three disconnect points and is screwed to a piece of 3/4" plywood;
it's pretty stable even when I yank on the hose.

I used plastic bodied units since they were cheaper. It's all plumbed
as 1/4NPT, since that's what the hose fittings are - if I had it to
do again, I'd probably go with 3/8" units and adapters to avoid the
airflow restriction. Sandblasting through this thing is not pretty.

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