Compressor for air assist requirements

The air needs to be dry.

… and blowing that air on your lens.
Still, if your air supply is sputtering droplets of water onto your cut line, you may have issues with your cut quality.

I’ve been using a California Air Compressor for several years on a small CNC mill for a power draw bar and for Fog Buster lubricant dispersal. The Fog Buster only needs 20-30 psig but the drawbar needs to run at 100+ psig discharge pressure so that’s where I have the compressor discharge set. I use it very intermittently, perhaps a few times per month for several hours at a time and I’ve had two failures so far, one in the pressure switch and another in the pump itself. The company told me that these are not intended for continuous duty, which might be a problem if you are running a business. The assembly itself is fairly easy to service and I had no special problems replacing either the flow switch or the pump itself. I have noticed that the pump gets a lot noisier as the tank pressure exceeds 50 psig, but that may not be a problem for only laser use.

I had exactly that problem. Water in the air lines. I live in Queensland Australia, and the air here can get really humid - up to 100% humidity at times. Anyway, I managed to get water on top of the lens (about 1mm thick) and started to get vaiable :smile: results.
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I was talking to Russ Sadler about it and he told me to forget about using the big air compressor, just use the putt-putt one that came with the laser. - So I did, and all is good now.

I have slung it under the laser on a couple of bungee cords, and I can barely hear it.

More isn’t always better.

Consider putting it outside. Compressors do explode. *AIR COMPRESSOR WARNING* - YouTube

Air bags deploy sending shrapnel, lithium ion batteries spontaneously ignite, car ignition switches melt down and combust, steering wheels fall off of the steering column, battery packs on electric vehicles cause massive recalls because of runaway reactions, Diesel engines can runaway and self destruct, and if you cross your eyes or make that face too long you will get stuck that way. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Edit: don’t forget that laser light causes permanent eye damage.

(But I do keep my compressor in an adjacent compressor shed for the noise).

Drain and maintain.

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In fifty odd years of working around compressors, I have never seen or know of one that blew up. Putting a compressor outside in a humid environment will compound the difficulty in getting dry air to your tools.

Hi, I recently bought the Hyundai super silent, same as David L above and it works great.
Depends on how quiet you want it.
Able to talk over it without shouting.

Yes it does.

My compressor has been outside for 40 years. I am in Alabama USA where the humidity is famously high at times. I must bleed and service the system twice per year. I know it’s time to bleed the system when I look at the first filter cup and see an inch of water. The best practice is outside in an enclosure or under a roof. They do blow up, do some major damage and kill people.

An automatic blowdown system might sense for those with high humidity. They are not too expensive.

This will not dry the air.

No but it keeps water from accumulating in the tank.

I like my tanks dry, leaving me with a fresh palate. No one wants that rusty tank aftertaste. :slight_smile:

swirls a glass of slightly cloudy water and takes a whiff… “ahh, iron oxide with with a subtle hint of synthetic compressor oil…”

I am thinking of a way to stop the condensation from rusting the inside of the compressor tank. On a motorcycle gas tank, I use a phosphate rinse for concrete which removes the rust, and leave the phosphate coating on the bare metal. Then a product called POR15 is used to coat the inside of the tank, sealing it and effectively eliminating any future rust. I am considering using this in my old Sears Roebuck compressor tank, which I recently had to repair with large patch in th bottom of it. This would be the only way to stop the water from rusting the tank, and to your compressor wouldn’t blow up from thin metal at the waterline.
Charlie

Or you can install an after cooler and a small refrigerated air dryer between your pump and tank (thus creating what is referred to as a dry storage receiver).

This is how I have my air compressor designed.

At a minimum, adding an after cooler alone (a fairly easy modification), will drop a significant amount of moisture from the compressed air.

Agreed, but as Hank said it does remove condensed water from the compressor tank. That seems like a good thing to me.

Through it out get a new tank. It rusted out in one spot it is getting thin/week. Dangerous.

Once I cut out the bad area, I inspected the inside of the tank, the area above was all good. I’m a welder by trade, it’s not a big deal to weld in good metal in the bottom.
Charlie

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