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Compressor - Water Separator & Oiler

skelrad

Well Known Member
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I'm reworking the shop to better fit airplane parts vs wood and cars - my existing compressor has an inline water separator, followed by an oiler. I have a 3 way quick coupling manifold right after the oiler. If I'm going to spray primer, am I right in assuming I should rework my setup so I have a manifold that comes off after the water separator but before the oiler (and then buy a dedicated hose for primer/paint)? I know having oil free air matters for paint, so guessing the same is true for primer?

Or, I suppose I could just take the easy way out and just remove the oiler altogether and get a new hose just for spraying.
 
Definitely no oiler in the line for spray painting. Ensure you have a good pre filter as well just before the gun.

K
 
If you have a pneumatic rivet squeezer, you don’t want to get oil in it at all. The oil will wash out the grease and it won’t work correctly after a while. It’s pretty much the only tool besides paint guns that you DONT oil.
 
When you get around to final paint, here is a DIY water separator that works amazingly well.
Run the output line up hill, add ice and drain from time to time (bottom blow valve not shown in the photo).
Carl
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What Carl did

I did the same as Carl many times, but less elegant..I just coiled a 50 foot airhose in a cut in half 55 gallon plastic drum, then through separator, and one final measure of the little plastic separator at the gun. Never a drop came through while painting.
 
I LOVE how airplane builders come up with way to deal with things that NO one else would have thought of! The coiled water remover is genius! May come from their Moonshine days.............:D:D

In the 13,000+ rivets that I drove, I did NOT have an oiler as I wanted my hoses to be oil-free. A few drops of air tool oil in the air hose fitting on the tool prior to using them each day was plenty. And likely used less oil. I wanted to control how much oil my tools were getting. I didn't have a pneumatic squeezer but have heard NOT to use oil in them.

I would suggest dedicated hoses for painting. Mine have never had oil in them but would probably have oil hoses one color and clean hoses as another color. You don't want ANY oil, even a miniscule amount, in your paint lines. Unless you are fond of fisheyes. A water filter in line and also one near the paint gun has been used in the past. And primer is paint so that applies to anything you put through a paint gun.

Have fun! Painting can be very interesting! I had some variable experience blowing painting, mostly cars but some on airplanes, and I did all mine myself on both the RV and the Cub; they turned out pretty well. And, when I get to where I am redoing the paint, plan on doing that as well. If a neighbor has a junker pickup or car sitting around, offer to do a backyard paint job on it for practice.:D:D Shooting some test stuff, even on cardboard, will help you get a feel for the gun, settings, painting, technique. Ask your paint vender if they have some paint that was returned or aren't likely to sell of the same type you are thinking of using that you could use for practice.

There are many books and UTube videos about painting. Painting cars is similar, just a slightly different shape. And you likely won't paint anything UNDER the car.....;)
 
I have multiple outlets before and after the oiler. A picture is attached of my setup. The compressor is at one end, and I ran air lines to opposite walls. Both setups are identical.

I also have 3 air hoses. The orange hose is dry air and gets used for car tires, painting, etc. There's 2 blue hoses for oiled air. Each has a labelled hook on the wall. I have two blue hoses so I can run both hoses from the other regulator at different pressure. Typically one is at 90 PSI for an air drill, grinder, etc. The one by the bench gets used for the rivet run where I can quickly adjust the pressure to suit.
 

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Does the bottom blow valve stick out the side of the bucket?

Yes - at the bottom. A standard hose facet along with some PVC connector. The pipe sealed around the bottom of the bucket with left over mico (always seem to have some left over - may as well use it).

Here is a photo. I put the bucket on a styrofoam block with a corner cut out to take the faucet so the bucket fits flat on the block. We get these ~1’x1’x2’ blocks for free from a local place that ships all those trailer you see at Lowes and such. These blocks have proven to be very valuable builder tools (sit on, step on, tape together for table legs, rest the tail on, etc.).

Carl

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