[Maulerman]

Fab up an after cooler for the compressor. I use a coffee can with a coil of copper tube, or aluminum rolled up inside. Attach a small water separating filter down stream and fill the can with ice and water. This will make your desiccant last even longer. Don't forget to insulate the outside of the can. Desiccant dryers work much better when the the inlet air is cooler. Industrial dryers are sized to work with 100F inlet air.

[OneMoreTime]

I have an older sand blast pressure pot here..that may be just the perfect thing...Just change some fittings..

Sam

[50bowTie]

Originally Posted by DanTwoLakes

An old pressure tank from a shallow well pump setup would have the connections already on it. You'd still have to open the tank up and get the diaphragm out of it, but it wouldn't have to be purged. AN IN-LINE TANK LIKE THIS

Not sure what those tanks are rated for but, I promise you would still want to change the bungs out to much larger. 1.25" is about right. any smaller and it would take forever to fill/dump.

[Brass Monkey]

A few years ago I welded a larger bung in an old air bubble. An old welder friend of mine told me how to test it. Stand the tank on end so you can completely fill with water. Then reduce the bung down untill you can screw a grease zert into it. While reducing it down install a tee fitting so an air gauge can be installed so you can check the pressure. Take a hand grease gun and start pumping grease into it while watching the pressure gauge. I pumped my tank up to double what I expect to be the normal air pressure. Water won't compress so if it ruptures all that will happen is you will get wet.

[coast40]

A 2.5 gal. pressure paint pot with 2 regs and hose for $5. Heck, a home canning pressure cooker might be usable.

[jimdi4]

Originally Posted by coast40

A 2.5 gal. pressure paint pot with 2 regs and hose for $5. Heck, a home canning pressure cooker might be usable.

Hey, I have one, Use it once in a while to paint Latex paint on outdoor projects, I don't care bout moisture when painting the shed or deck.

But it can easily be filled with kitty litter and then sealed up, then opened up and dump out old silica (cat Litter; TiDY cat crystals - Walmart carries it).

I can drop the whole thing into a larger bucket filled with ICE to cool...I have traps after this...or should I cool the air before it gets to the pressure tank?

Its designed for high pressure, plus it has a blead off valve if the pressure gets to high...Only thing to do is to screen off the outlet in side the pot somehow, then maybe put an old tea bag, or coffee filter paper in front of the screen to keep the silica dust out!!

BTW this is my first post...I just painted my buddies Hummer plastic fender flare,,, it fell off when the deer ran into the Hummer,,,the deer lost!...I don't know if i can post any pictures yet...

[jimdi4]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by 50bowTie

I've tried several different setups (an understatement) for drying out my air. I do quite a bit of DA sanding and painting from my garage at home and have always battled moisture and oil problems.

The tank is an old propane tank. Black iron couplings were cut in half and used as weld-in bungs. Tank was back-purged with argon and mig welded with my little miller 140.


1.25" bungs on top and bottom for easy empty and refill.

takes almost three large bags of fresh step crystals cat litter (95% Silica gel) -- much cheaper than buying bulk silica Sink drain Screen brazed to inside of exit nipple to keep the desiccant in the tank and out of my regulator.

I have ZERO moisture for about a month of continuous use and gained a little more volume (which helps my 60 gal IR keep up!)



Feel free to comment, copy, whatever.

So do you fill the whole thing up with desiccant, leaving no air space in the cylinder? I want to do the same this w/e although I plan on buying a 5 gallon air cylinder on Craigslist....