danielhv

danielhv

Well Known Member
compressor.jpg


Im trying to get ideas of how im going to run my airlines and regulator etc... trying to keep it as neat as possible and like this setup but i dont know what the bucket is for...
 
Cooling?

Did someone set it up to cool the air out of the compressor before it is fed to the tools/spray gun?

I bet the bucket is planned to be filled with cold water....

gil A
 
It looks like it is to cool the air from the compressor. In very humid areas, the (hot) compressed air tends to hold moisture.

I knew a guy that used a setup like that to paint his RV. He put coiled copper tubing in a bucket. One end of the tubing was hooked up to the compressor and the other end to his air hose. When he was going to paint, he would put cold water in the bucket to condense the moisture out of the air. He had a water separator/moisture filter on the outlet from the bucket. He said it worked very well.

When I painted my -8, I used a water filter that used a roll of paper. Some people replaced the paper filter with toilet paper and said it worked fine. I took my paper filter out after every time painting and let it air dry. I never had to replace it.

Karl
 
It is an intercooler to condense the moisture in the air before it goes into the tank. I made a very crude one years ago to eliminate water in my air while painting a car. It worked great.
I'd had to stop in the middle of a nice paint job because the paint gun started spitting water. The commercial water trap I had turned out to be almost useless. My intercooler got the job done.
 
geez... just when i think i have everything i need... am i going to need to worry about condensation and stuff or is that only when i get around to painting? I havent even started an RV yet... just getting the garage outfitted... ive got the compressor and reg/filter, just trying to determine how I should hook it up!
 
danielhv said:
geez... just when i think i have everything i need... am i going to need to worry about condensation and stuff or is that only when i get around to painting? I havent even started an RV yet... just getting the garage outfitted... ive got the compressor and reg/filter, just trying to determine how I should hook it up!
Click to expand...

I don't know where Little Elm is but I doubt you have the humidity that we do on the Texas gulf coast. I was about 30 miles from Galveston bay when I painted my -8. I used the Motor Guard JLMM60 that you can find at the following link:

http://www.toolweb.com/AutoBodySupply/store.cfm?catID=26239&subcatID=42359&do=itemslist&expadd=1

I didn't have a bucket, I just used the above filter. I was careful to drain the compressor tank in between coats of paint and let the filter element air dry over night. I never had moisture in my paint while using this filter. I now use it every time I turn on the compressor because moisture in bad on air tools, particularly rotary tools like die grinders.

Karl
 
or motor gaurd

filter drier jlmd12-2. or mtn 6125 http://www.toolweb.com/AutoBodySupply/store.cfm?catID=26239&subcatID=42359&do=itemslist&expadd=1 works great painted many cars with them never had a problem at all. they are good for a paint job or two. there is plenty of humidity here in south carolina.
ive never had much trouble with water but i have my eclipse drier fiilter (cheap)55 feet from the compressor. the hose near the compressor gets water in it all the time. i also should have tapped that from the top of the line.:rolleyes:
 
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I've got a water trap coming out of the tank...and another water trap pretty far downstream -- the other side of the garage actually, just before an oiler. I have no idea whether this has done any good or not.
 
Move to the desert...

... or just move to Tucson...
Temp in the 80's and Relative Humidity in the 10-15% range....:D

Not much moisture in the air to condense....:D

gil A
 
It's just like the one I used to have. Put cool water in the bucket and condense water vapor into water. A very good way to dry your air before it get sprayed out in your paint.
 
That's MY bucket!

Yup, that's my bucket and air hose set-up. Or should I say it was, but I like the still idea better!

Long long ago, in a neighorhood not so far away, I made the mistake of using my die grinder for an extended period of time on a rainy day. Later that same day, after the rain stopped and the compressor had cooled, I decided to shoot some primer. Big mistake! I was getting a lot of water mixed in with the primer and got some big fish eyes on the primed parts. This was my first attempt at spraying this primer, and I convinced myself that I would have moisture issues whenever I sprayed primer, so I built the condensor. As many have pointed out, it was intended to be filled with cold water and ice, chilling the air and serving as a moisture trap for the air line. It is the low point of the system and has a drain at the bottom.

Truth be told, I didn't have ongoing moisture issues (it's usually very dry here). I only had a problem that day because of the combination of my die grinder usage and the weather. On subsequent priming attempts with the condensor installed it only removed a tiny amount of water, not because it wasn't working, but simply because it wasn't really needed. I've since removed it from the system, although it is sitting in the same spot, and I've never had a serious moisture issue since. It is a good conversation piece though. You wouldn't beleive the number of "What's the bucket for?" emails I get. :)

Bottom line is, unless you are painting and/or live in a very humid climate, don't waste your time making one.
 
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danielhv said:
geez... just when i think i have everything i need... am i going to need to worry about condensation and stuff or is that only when i get around to painting? I havent even started an RV yet... just getting the garage outfitted... ive got the compressor and reg/filter, just trying to determine how I should hook it up!
Click to expand...

Daniel,

You made a good point here. You need to get the plane built before you start worrying about details like this. There are many, many people that don't finish thier RV's. Part of the problem might be getting bogged down in the small details. You don't need to worry about condensation for a while. Start building your plane and worry about these details when they pop up.

RV7Factory said:
Bottom line is, unless you are painting and/or live in a very humid climate, don't waste your time making one.
Click to expand...

Another good point. I know lots of people that never have condensation problems. I would recommend having some kind of water trap just in case but like I said above, just build the plane and worry about moisture when it becomes a problem.

Karl
 
air drier

Hose in the bucket trick is an old one from the car painting days of yore... I once built a refrigerated air drier from an old discarded dehumidifier. Worked like a charm...
Chris
 
I live near Montgomery AL, so humid air is an issue. If you're outfitting a shop, consider the traditional piped air method. There are variations on the scheme, but this one works...

Run a short flex line upward to a point near the ceiling, then hang 3/4 steel pipe all the way around the upper perimeter. At intervals in the run, insert a T-fitting with the tee facing down and drop a 1/2" pipe to a point near the floor. Put a 1/4 turn ball valve on the end. These are water traps/drains.

In the middle of each drop, insert an air tap assembly. It is a tee, a 6" nipple, an elbow facing up, another 6" nipple, and another elbow facing sideways. From there you can run a short nipple into a bowl regulator, or install another elbow facing down and run into a standard female air line connector.

The principal is simple; hot moist air from the compressor cools nicely in steel pipe. The water runs along the bottom the horizontal pipe and falls into the drops. The air taps in the drops have a short vertical section so the water can't get into them. You tap painting air at the far end of the system.

Picture worth 1000 words; here you can see the system with drops along the walls. The end drop has the good painting regulator. I also run a bead blast cabinet. High air volume requirement, which must be quite dry or the beads clump together.

 
I needed some really dry air for running some air-driven pumps, I was having problems with moisture in the air forming frost on the exhaust valves during extended operations and stopping the pump. I solved it by taking 6' of 4" heavy wall PVC, and capped both ends with a neck down to 1/4" NPT pipe threads where I routed my air in and out. Before gluing it together I put a piece of windowscreen in the bottom cap, and poured 10 pounds of silica dessicant beads into the PVC tube, and glued the top cap on. The PVC caps next down to a 1" threaded piece, so you can change the dessicant by unthreading the 1" reducer.

This works extremely well, gets the air dewpoint down to about -10F (more than is needed - but works!) and total cost was about $120. From the amount of air I put through mine before needing to change it, I'd say you should easily be able to prime and paint your entire plane on one dessicant load - just use it for painting only, not your air tools. Run full pressure to the dessicant chamber with the regulator on the output - it will increase the efficiency of the dessicant.
 
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