Question for anyone knowledgeable in the world of pneumatic compressors and their tools... what is the best way to setup it up? Right now I have it: compressor -> filter/regulator -> hard lines I also planned on installing another filter/regulator off one of the outputs because, well, I have them sitting around. Figured that one would work well for the spray gun.

Basically I have a 60 gallon compressor and hard lines on the walls. I want to regulate the pressure and filter it right out of the compressor, I think. However I am seeing on E-bay a lot of them are oiler/regulator/filter combo units. This only worries me because we hope to do some light weight painting using these lines. I am worried that the oil will get into the paint while spraying and make a mess. Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks a ton on getting my shop setup!

Douglas

 

Well I know in the shop hear at work we have it regulated and dryed before the hard lines. and there is no oilers you have to put a couple of drops in your tools regularly. Also don't most spray guns have regulaters on them. I might put an extra dryer on the line you use to spray with though.

 

They sell tiny regulators you can put on you spray gun, use those. Run 2 hard lines one with just a dryer and regulator, set it at like 120-130psi, run your hose to your spray gun, then drop it do to 40 psi or whatever your gun need right at the gun. Also run a mini dryer at the spray gun. Set up your main shop line with the oilier and regulator, because the pressure is not as critical for air tools and the oil is a nice feature.

 

We only have one hard line, so that isn't really possible. We'll probably just run an oiler on the spool line and let the other couple drops just be clean.

Oddly the show Muscle Car disagrees with running a regulator on the gun and suggest adjusting the pressure on the wall.

Thanks for the suggestions,
Douglas

 

you could put the reg on the end of the spray gun then have it wide open then take and adjust the pressure on your compressor to 40-45 whatever you need to be spraying at then take the reg of the gun and run the line to the gun. i hope that makes sense, i dont really know how to word it better.

 

That was the suggested method I heard, which is why I was going to put a regulator on the wall.

 

I have refinished furniture as a profession for years, not cars but the same gun. Your air hose will swell and contract every time you open and close the valve on the spray gun, also you can have an uneven draw with longer air hoses, 50' or more especially, you will not have this problem adjusting at the gun. Also you have the ability to set the regulator to flow through pressure for very accurate atomization. You can't do that with a wall regulator. When you set your wall regulator to 40psi it will drop to 32-34 psi at the gun when you pull the trigger. In my shop I have one plug near the compressor clean dry air with a 50' hose on it, and the lines around the shop with air and oil.

 

scribbles - You set the regulator on the wall to the pressure that you desire on the gun. Basically you take a T fitting. One end to gun, other to hose and on the t you put a gauge. You then free flow the gun and set at the wall the pressure you want using the gauge on the gun. This should take into account whatever restrictions or swell you have between the gun and the wall.

However, this isn't my question... my question is can I oil the entire system and still run paint guns, using some sort of separator/dryer setup or is that just asking for trouble and I should only run a regulator and filter and oil the system right before the main connector. We have a total of 5 drops so I'd really prefer to oil them all but still have the option to run a spray gun.

 

In my opinion it would be asking for trouble adding oil and then trying to get it all out seems like it would be very bad for painting as if just a few small drops get through it would ruin your finish yeh you might be able to wet sand it out but I wouldn't risk it.

 

No don't run oil in a line that will go through a gun, just put an outlet before the oil injector, and run your sprayers off that. You can never get your air clean enough. You are asking for trouble by injecting oil into the air, and then trying to clean air. I don't think I was explaining myself very well. But I was trying to say run your hard-line for the shop with your regulator, oilier. But just before you're oilier/regulator, but after your drier put in a t fitting with a quick disconnect and run your paint guns off that. Also you need an air hose for your sprayer that never gets used in oil fed line, so it is clean inside.

Most paint defects are caused by moisture or oil in your air. And they are not like a run or orange peal and can not be wet sanded out. Keep that air clean.

 

 

The reason for not putting a tiny regulator on the gun is that many guns require more air than those tiny regulators can flow.

I am not sure why the air hose would swell and contract when the gun opens and closes, unless the regulator is crap. If the pressure doesn't change, why would the hose change size? Besides, there are two stops on the triggers. The first stop just flows air, so if the painter starts the air flow with the first stop and then, after the air is flowing, go to the second stop and start laying down paint then it shouldn't matter if there was a surge when the air valve first opened.

As was said, don't put crap in the air you plan to use for painting. It takes big $$$ filters to get really clean air just trying to filter out the oil from the compressor and the dirt sucked in by the compressor.

 

Here is my setup.. This is the correct way to setup according to TPTools

I have a SS braided flex hose from the tank valve to the hard line, a 6" riser off a T so i can extend the hard line to another drop if i wish and another 6" riser before the filters. There is also another flex hose from the hard line to the hose reel.

The regulator is set to ~95-100psi since most of my tools require 90psi. There should be no more than 10psi loss in my 50' hose reel.

I intend on just dropping oil directly into my air tools rather than contaminate my hose reel with oil, however you could add an oiler in my system after the drier but Tee off between the drier and oiler as someone above mentioned for paint guns. Another alternative would be to add an oiler here in place of the drier and make another drop just for paint guns - you would need another regulator here also.

If/when i get around to painting with my system, i will set the regulator you see in the pic to ~60psi and use a small regulator at the gun to lower it to 40 or whatever the gun requires.

This is a very modular, flexible and scalable system as i see it, should be way more than i really need but it didnt cost a fortune to do... In fact i think the most expensive part was the dentist bill since i smashed one of my teeth in half when the wrench slipped off the union i was tightening and straight into my cake hole

 

1- Painting or anything that takes a lot of air volume, it’s much more efficient to run as much pressure as possible to the tool and regulate it at the tool, that will get the most airflow to the tool.
2- Inline oilers are a PITA, it seems like half the time they don’t work, and half the time they dump the whole load of oil into the lines in a few minutes.
3- For the most part tools only need oil to prevent rust inside and to keep parts well sealed. A couple of drops every use is enough to do that. Second, some tools require different oils, for example, if you use an air brad nailer they use a different kind of oil than most grinders and similar stuff.
4- Once you’ve run oil through a hose, you can’t use it for painting at all anymore.

What I have: I run full compressor/tank pressure to a central location. There I have a large, steel separator (if nothing else the volume and thermal capacity of the steel chamber will cause most water to drop out as does most trash), that is plumbed into a large filter and after that I have it branched off in 3 directions:
- one that goes off to the garage where it goes to a regulator before it goes to the hose reel.
- The second branch has a regulator right there which goes to a reel that is used in the basement.
Both those regulators are usually set at around 90-100psi, what most air tools want, and if I’m using a spray gun I have a mini regulator mounted on the gun to knock the pressure down to what the gun wants.
- The 3rd branch goes off to the blast cabinet which has a regulator mounted right on the inlet, again, to give it maximum air flow even though it only really needs 50-65psi for most jobs.

All the lines before the regulators are ½” hose or larger. The reels are 3/8”, with a short 3/8” whip on the end (very flexable section with a swivel to make it easier to use connected to a tool). I also have some 1/4” hose that I use for some smaller tools that don’t use much air where flexability are the biggest concern (like my 18ga brad nailer or an air brush…)

 

Rico, that is a very nice set up for the limited space you have.
One thing that I didn't see mentioned is that your first filter needs to be at least 20' from outlet on compressor. Also copper($$$) is the best pipe to use, followed by gavlanized, then iron pipe. Never use pvc pipe for an air compressor. (A bomb waiting to happen)All of your leggs should come over the top of your main line. And if your going to ever going to paint, NEVER use a self lubricator on your set up.
Good luck setting up.

 

Thanks man.

Never heard this before though..

I have heard some people say to use copper and others who say avoid it for compressed air. Other than it being more difficult to put together than pre-threaded iron pipe, i understand that and vibration or flex in the system could cause the soldered joints to crack over time..

Also, i'm not sure of the pressure rating on copper but the iron pipe I used is good for 150psi which suits my 135psi max compressor just fine

Cheers,
Richard.

 

You should have a flexible hose between the compressor and the main lines anyway, and I don’t know what you’re messing with but for me it’s thousands of times faster and easier to get good, leak free joints in copper then threaded “black iron” pipe, somehow no matter what I do, if I use tape or dope or whatever I always get some leaks (I always get leaks with dope, and I can’t figure out what is up with that, I doubt that it’s that I’m not getting things tight enough, and I almost never get leaks with threaded brass fittings).

With copper you just cut everything to length, clean the ends, put some flux on and assemble. Once you get everything where you want it, heat the joint and touch the solder to it and you’re done, the whole cutting, cleaning and sweating thing takes less time than just wrapping a threaded joint with tape.

The _big_ advantage with copper is the thermal conductivity and at the same time having 2x the density of steel, so it cools the air faster than steel and has more cooling capacity then steel before it needs to dissipate it to the air, and even then, it transfers heat to the air faster. With Steel or copper the lines end up acting like a long, inline dryer, copper just does it better.

That being said, with the expense of copper and the hassle of black iron or galvanized, I keep wondering how the new (well, newer then most other materials) PEX stuff would work for air lines.

 

Pex doesn't have "the thermal conductivity" that you point out above. So you will have to find another way to lower the compressed air temperature to dew point (changing the moisture in the lines from a vapor to a liquid) and be able to trap the moisture as a liquid in the drop legs or traps.

 

http://www.castair.net/after-coolers.html

moisture!