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Bruce L. Bergman Bruce L. Bergman is offline
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Default recommendation for pneumatic regulator / oiler

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:33:59 -0700 (PDT), inetquestion
wrote:

I've got a pneumatic regulator attached to an Ingersoll Rand 60 gallon
air compressor which I purchased from northern tool a couple of years
ago that really doesn't seem to do much in terms of removing water
from the lines. It also doesn't seem to add any oil that I can tell
either... While attempting to do some sanding to a car it is
releasing lots of water into the line/tools. Is there a decent model
anyone can recommend? What would auto body painters use on their
system in order to get a system capable of painting cars...etc? Mine
seems far from that level at the moment. I did empty the drain line
on the tank, but it didn't solve the problem...


You really need an air dryer to get large volumes of consistently
dry air... (DUH! ;-P )

A refrigerated unit for high volume work, or a desiccant style for
occasional paint jobs - or both if you paint cars all day and want a
backup if the refrigerated hiccups or gets overloaded and lets some
moisture by.

If you do high volume air tool work, you also want to add an
air-to-air intercooler (a radiator, but rated for 300 PSI) and a water
trap and drain between the compressor output and the main receiver.
Should have a separate cooling fan if you pound the system all day.

The intercooler will condense out a lot of the water and the trap
will get rid of it before the receiver, and a little more moisture
will condense in the receiver tank IF you keep the compressor room
well ventilated so the receiver shell stays cool. And the
refrigerated dryer can handle the rest.

Even with a dryer you still have to build the piping system in the
shop right, since you can get condensation in there too. You start
with a COPPER trunk line - NO Plastic pipe! PVC plastic can rupture,
and the resulting shrapnel can kill. Black steel pipe is OK but
you'll get rust problems that ruin regulators, it's a pain to install
unless you own a power threader to make up nipples and drop lines to
length, and it's a pain to modify after installation if you don't put
plugged tees everywhere you might want a tap later.

The trunk line goes to the high point on the ceiling and then slopes
down to the work areas, with a drain leg and valve at the far end for
any condensate to naturally go to. And all taps go UP to come off the
trunk, so moisture stays in the trunk line and goes to the drain.

There are several online/catalog guides to building an air system
you can find, both Grainger and McMaster have them.

We have a customer that runs a low volume paint booth to lacquer
hardware, and they do just fine with a properly designed air line
system to drain condensate from the air, and a coalescing filter as a
last step before the gun. If they ever crank up the production so the
booth runs all day, when I change them out to a larger compressor I'll
insist on an intercooler and an air dryer at the same time.

-- Bruce --