r.p.mcmurphy wrote:

Hi all, bought a compressor of ebay, and some airline and tools from machine
mart only to find i now need fittings to couple 'em all together! can

Various connections get commonly used. The simplest is the PCL
connector. You would typically fit a female one to the compressor and
the tool and of the hose, and a male one to the other end of the hose
and each of your tools. That way you can quickly plug and unplug tools
and hoses. The PCL is self sealing as well, so if you disconnect a tool
from the end of the hose you don't then have air blasting out the end!

Look in the Axminster catalogue, there is a good range there including
the lubricants.

someone explain the basics about compressors for me? i.e...lubrication for

If your compressor is "oil free", then it does not use any. Otherwise
compressor oil would be the stuff to use. Many have a dipstick and can
be topped up much as you would a car.

Lubrication of the tools is done with air tool oil (or any light oil in
many cases). Some tools will be happy with a few drops of oil up their
supply connector each time you finish using them. Others would prefer an
in-line oiler. These can be either mounted on the compressor,
automatically feeding all tools, or smaller in-line ones mounted on the
tools inlet.

If you are paint spraying you may not want in-line oiling since it can
contaminate your paint finish.

the tools, using paint spray guns, precautions etc etc? also the compressor

Treat with great respect! Spray guns in particular - placed close to the
skin they can inject paint and thinners straight through it, and cause a
nice big embolism in the process.

Take care when connecting or disconnecting hoses, use ear defenders even
for this. Long hoses can give quite an explosive decompression when
disconnected from the feed end - fitting a blow head and discharging the
air in the hose first can be a good move.

Blow heads/dusters can be very useful, but can also give you a face or
eye full of dust/swarf in short order in not used with care and eye
protection.

has an air outlet attached to the body of the air receiver and two outlets
on what appears to be an air pressure adjustable gadget...which do i use for
what?

Depends a bit on the type of compressor... (do you have the ebay item
number, we could have a look?). Often there are two pressure gauges, one
reads the pressure in the receiver, the other the pressure of the
output. A pressure switch will keep the receiver topped up to within
upper and lower limits by turning the compressor on and off as required.
An adjustable regulator can be used to select the output pressure to the
tool. Most will state what their ideal and maximum pressures are. 60 -
90psi is quite common.

Check for a water drain on the compressor, let out any water that has
condensed in it at the end of the day once it has been depressurised.

--
Cheers,

John.

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