DeWALT Air Compressor Upgrades Part 1: Aftercooling, Water Separation, and more!
Vložit
- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- It was way past time to push my DeWALT DXCM301 (AKA DXCMLA1683066) 30 gallon air
compressor into service, so I finally installed some:
-Vibration isolation: to keep it from running around the shop
-After cooling: to reduce compressed air temps to extra more water
-Water separation: to keep water out of the tank
and...
-Solid wheels: because I just don't like pneumatic tires on shop equipment and to further stop it
from running around the shop
-Remote tank drain: because you just have to have a remote drain... lest you never drain your
compressor...
Video Links:
Air Compressors/Air Tools Playlist ► • Old Harbor Freight Air...
Stuff Links (Amazon links are affiliated; I earn a small commission on those links):
Vibration Isolation:
Bolts for the mounts ► www.mcmaster.c...
The final 1/2" tall mounts ► www.mcmaster.c...
Aftercooling:
3/8" Tube ► amzn.to/3xQYxD7
3/8" Stone Guard ► amzn.to/3Ca1lxm
Cushioned "P" Clamps ► amzn.to/3SB9tg1
1/2" NPT to 3/8" Compression Fittings ► amzn.to/3SdQCYm
3/8" Compression Unions (to harvest for parts if you need extra ferrules/nuts) ► amzn.to/3SaUx8A
Remote Drain:
Bar Stock 90 ► amzn.to/3RcEGVq
3' Hose Whip ► amzn.to/3xQqISu
1/4" NPT Valve ► amzn.to/3DShGYQ
Water Separation:
1/8" NPT x 3/8" Hose Barb ► amzn.to/3DTjW2b
3/8" PVC Tubing ► www.mcmaster.c...
Perforated Angle Iron ► www.mcmaster.c...
Separator ► What I used is a Parker 07F series filter. There are many different styles within that
family. I suggest you look up the style you'd prefer in the catalog linked below and then search
eBay for one until you find a deal. The mount for the 07F series is PS843P.
Parker Literature ► www.parker.com...
Wheels:
Wheels ► amzn.to/3xQhUvX
Shaft Collars ► amzn.to/3C8PbFa
Tools:
Tube Cutter ► amzn.to/3BLcQdu
11/16" Drill Bit ► amzn.to/3roSG4l
Tube Bending Springs ► amzn.to/3LEBO2I
"0, R, L" Style Tubing Bender ► amzn.to/3LEBIrS
Want to contact me? ► Info@TheBrokenLife.net
Send me everything... except to jail:
The Broken Life
4000 E. Bristol St.
Suite 3 #253
Elkhart, IN. 46514
Early in the mechanic trade, almost 60 years ago, I was given a tip to fill and cap the tube with dry blasting sand to support the tube in the bend. Leave a little room in the top so you don't split the end so you don't split the pipe in a deep bend.
That's one I've heard of from the model car guys making tiny little headers and things. In my case, I don't know if it would have gone well. I didn't actually know what I was going to end up with until it was over so I would have had to fill the entire roll of tube to do it. I'm not even sure if I could have gotten done without straightening the entire thing first.
For shorter segments, I'd for sure give it a shot and it's a good tip! 👍
A very decent DIY effort! For whatever it's worth, rubber isolators in industrial use are typically like a fat washer and used for both vibration dampening and harmonic isolation where applicable. I suspected those first ones were going to be an issue, but looks like your persistence paid off. (I was also chastising the screen for not using cutting oil, but hey, you got 'er done. A little WD40 in the future is an easy stand-in, or even dish soap if you're in a tight spot).
I've been experimenting with my own aftercooler solutions this last week. Short of just using a full copper coil as-is in front of the intake cooling fan, minus whatever length is used in connections, I've been contemplating sourcing my own high temp-compatible lines in place of running hard line, as like you said, copper is getting to be outrageously expensive compared to even a year ago. I looked at aluminum briefly, though the burst pressures didn't bode well for the stuff I was finding. At any rate, hard lines will eventually crack from heat cycling and vibrations, but it's a 10 year problem. It's more likely other parts will wear out on the pump like the air valves before your line will degrade substantially.
If you ever looked into stainless braided line, the liner is made from PTFE, which you can buy separately. The largest commonly available one I've found thus far is 12mm ID/14mm OD, and is relatively affordable if you need less than 10 feet. Cheaper than copper, has around ~500*F heat resistance and well over pressure resistance for home-use air compressor duty.
Me being me, I'm also looking at fabbing up a water-cooled tubed solution leading up to a water separator, but it's getting deep into overkill territory. My first oil/water separator bit the dust after just a week, and it was actually a 'purpose built' retail unit. It leaked air like crazy factory new and was an utter hunk of junk.
On the water-cooled unit, if you're curious, you'll often see fuel-cooled oil coolers on jet turbine engines; same principle. A collection of tubing is set inside a larger chunk of pipe, where in the case of the cooling unit for an air compressor, the air runs through the small tubing surrounded by circulating water, shedding heat by virtue of increased surface area. I'll probably use a small fountain pump as I have one, but they're stupid cheap anyway. You can run a 5 gallon bucket as the reservoir. I'm still on the fence as I'd rather have a passive cooler vis-à-vis a tube and fin, so I'm still weighing options. I've also seen the various transmission/oil cooler ideas, though for me, I'd just assume use an actual heat exchanger meant for small boilers that you can get for $60. They have about triple the volume of an oil cooler and honestly it'd be nice to have a few for other projects.
Thanks!
I wanted as much rubber in there as I could get, but I was willing to drop all the way down to washers if I had to. What I have ended up working out alright, if not expensive and time consuming to finally get there.
I just didn't want to make a cutting oil mess to save an $11 drill bit from what should have been a pretty mild cut. Until it hit the burr, it was. 😁
The nicop line really is just about the perfect stand-in between copper and steel. Work hardening, pressure, heat transfer, cost, etc are all pretty much right between the two. Typically materials like PTFE have a terrible heat transfer coefficient, but if you're just wanting something simple to work with to connect something, I imagine it would work.
A water to air heat exchanger setup would be a fun project, but overkill for what I'm doing. Knocking my temperature down to 10F over ambient and removing 95% of the water is a result I'm reasonably happy with. I didn't see any units as inexpensive as what you're seeing for boilers. If I had, I may have given one a go. 👍
@@TheBrokenLife Agreed on the PTFE, it was more of a stand-in for a flexible connection, but the more I look at it, I'm thinking of going the heat exchanger route and just use good quality 3/8"s hose/connectors down stream. I was eyeballing an exchanger on ebay for quite the while, but surprise surprise on Amazon, I believe the very same unit has popped up for $54. Not sure how links are working right now, but entering "8x8 Water to Air Heat Exchanger Hot Water Coil Outdoor Wood Furnace" should get you something similar to what I'm looking at, if you ever decide to switch things out in the future. I do like your nicop tubing though, as I'm really in this for a unit to dry air to a plasma cutter. I've got some other in-line manual dump dryers right now, but it's not ideal.
@@C-M-E I was able to find that exchanger, but the ones I'm seeing only have sweat connections (they also list the construction technique as being sweat copper, so there is no way around it). In the product details, they list the maximum pressure for the sweat connections as 175psi (but at 350F). ASME charts for small pipes sweat with tin-lead solder show that threshold is more like 100psi @ 200F. I know guys exceed that with sweat copper, but, for me, running at 155psi (and looking to potentially go up from there in the future), the factor of safety of that system is too low for comfort. The automotive style coolers I've seen (usually Derale[?] brand) are good up to 200psi and have 37 degree fittings integrated onto them, which I would be more comfortable with. Ultimately, I didn't even care for that, which is why I went with the nicop. When used in automotive brake systems, nicop can see up to 1500psi with wild pressure swings under ABS braking. In short, I just wanted a much larger factor of safety.
If you're really set on soft lines to connect whatever you end up doing, I would probably look more toward the hydraulic world for materials. The pressures and temperatures can get pretty crazy...but so can the costs. In the long run I think it's more cost effective to just mount the entire system with a degree of freedom built into it (rubber mounts), but with less expensive materials.
For your plasma, a good quality water separator before it should really be all you need. As I've implemented my system, aftercooling at the compressor is more about preserving the life of the tank than it is conditioning the air. In the not too distant future I'll be adding another separator to my system after the compressor to condition the air for my equipment. Ideally that second filter will be far enough downstream from the compressor that the air inside the lines will be ambient temperature and give me the driest possible air without going to something active like a desiccant or refrigerated system.
There are lots of different ways to skin the cat. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. 👍
Do like I did with my upright compressor, Bolted it to the concrete floor with rubber blocks between the feet and the bolts. Very quiet and doesn't dance. Forgot to mention, mine is a Devilbiss 60 gallon upright with a 5 hp motor.
Unfortunately this is a rented house so drilling into the floor is off the menu. In the long run I'd like to just have a compressor house that is an exterior building to the work space. The odds are highly favorable that it will just be a wooden shed, with a wooden floor, so lashing it down would be pretty simple.
That said, the wheels and isolation paid off. It hasn't moved since I put it in its hole.
I like the spacers for the wheels for a nice look. However I would probably just used a stack of washers. Mostly because I have buckets of washers, bolts and nuts. Also as far as the compressor walking, i just set it on a rubber mat. Nice job and video!
Thanks!
I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even consider a rubber mat. 😂When I want something the way I want it, I just want it that way and the tunnel vision comes on.
I think you should use a little bit of flexo between the head and the pipe. Because now the motor is shaking and vibrating. Eventually it's gonna vibrate creating vibrations on the connecting points
I had that concern as well and decided I'd worry about it if it happened. So far, it hasn't been a problem.
If you had a drill press you definately need to be using it because every time you try to drill the set collar you lean the drill a lot and get the bit very crooked.
...and yet everything worked out fine.
some cutting oil helps, too!
@@davidh5745 ...and yet everything worked out fine. 😉
Dipp the bit in oil.
I think you'd be better off to make your videos more concise and get to the end results quicker. I'd think most people don't want to spend 45 minutes on a video like this. I'd suggest making your videos only 15 - 20 minutes long.
Thanks for watching.
@@TheBrokenLifei agree with him, make the video a bit shorter and show the main parts and show a sped up video of part of the install part then back to normal speed as you hook up everything. Definitely helpful content
God bless and remember bless others 👍💪🙏
Click on the gear top right, and then playback speed. You can watch it at 1.5 speed
Detergent in water is a great way to find a leaking fitting. Over tightening is at times, much worse than under. Great motivation in trying to dry the air and increase life of the tank.
The trouble with trying to find leaks in this particular setup is that it's only pressurized when the compressor is running and when the compressor is running, so is the fan... so everything makes bubbles and feels like a leak because of the wind from that.🤣
I did end up switching over to a stainless compression fitting at the compressor head, which made a world of difference... which reminds me of the video I have yet to make that.
@@TheBrokenLife try detergent by its self or a piece of cardboard to block the wind for a moment.
As far as as isolation is concerned you got off to the wrong start. Just make a new plate for the compressor and motor and isolate that from the tank. You can never control belt tension with your setup. As to flex hose I found hydraulic hose to be the only solution. My dryer radiator is made of black pipe with 3 drains and I am puting it in between the head and tank but it is mounted to the concrete wall so I had to come up with a flex solution and finally realized that the hydraulic hoses on my Cat excavator were the only hoses that could handle the heat and pressure and are relatively cheap. $23 for a half inch by 36". I'll let you know how it works out. My Sears compressor is over 50 years old and still working great and used nearly every day for that 50 years.. I figure it's time for a little modification to keep that water out of the tank. Interesting vid bud👍😎👌 Also imho you should use at least half inch pipe and hose. My black iron radiator is 1/2" and 3/4" and half inch hose connectors. Don't restrict your air. In fact I ported and relieved the reed plate about 45 years ago. KISS 😂
Belt tension hasn't been a problem. It just took a little bit to get the proper isolators.
I _may_ need to add a flex line to it and I was also thinking that hydraulic hose would be a good go-to. It's about the only thing that will handle the temperature at the head reasonably well.
I used the same size plumbing as the factory did and I timed it before and after the drying upgrades and there was no change in performance. This compressor really doesn't flow much air. It's very small in the grand scheme of things.
With all of that said, the water separation appears to be pretty much perfect with this system. I rarely get any water out of the tank itself and the separator dumps it's trap after every cycle. I've very pleased with it.
I bought the DXCM303 from tractor supply. It doesn't have any of these problems. Just a fyi for anybody out there doing their research.
The only genuine "problem" with mine is the vibration. I still don't know if that is just the one I bought or all of them of this model. The water separation is going to be an issue on any air compressor. I also just prefer solid wheels vs. pneumatic for stuff like this.
The 303 does seem like a great compressor though. I'm not sure if it was available, or at what price, when I was shopping but I certainly would have given it a good look.
compression fittings are not intended to be in vibration environment, Flare fittings are. Yes the original comes with compression fittings does not mean it is correct.
We will find out together how it holds up. I have a tractor that has had a compression fitting on it for 50 years, so... It's probably going to be alright.
I know this is old but I have a 60gal compressor in my shop/garage that I simply mounted on cut hockey pucks. I used expanding lag bolts on the floor directly through the foot and hockey puck sandwiched between washers. I mounted it 15 years ago and it's still as solid and damped as it was on day one. My floor had a bit of a slope at the edge so I shimed the foot till level and then cut the puck with the miter saw at the same height.
This is a rented house so I can't really bolt stuff down and I do still like that the compressor is still "portable". The isolation on the compressor head combined with the solid wheels are working great. 👍
I have an old two cylinder compressor. I was considering buying a cheep(er) 2 stage Chinese pump and 5 hp motor. Sent the links to my brother-in-law who works on compressors for a job. He came back with an offer I couldn't refuse. He's going to build me a 5hp Quincy pump from extra parts around the shop. He's even going to provide me with a matching motor and pulley all for the big price of: *"Thank you!"* . I just have to wait until spring break to get it as he's driving up from TX to MN then. I have a tire machine that takes a whole lot of time to use because my existing compressor can't keep up. I plan on keeping my existing compressor in the system. When I need more air, I'll hit a valve and switch (VFD as the motor will be 3 phase) and I'll have air to do with what I want. Power a blast cabinet or mister for my mill.
Will have to develop a moisture reduction as I want to spray paint. Thus the interest in this video.
I'm also thinking about mounting the pump and motor on their own plate and mount that plate to the mount on the tank with isolation mounts.
I'll defiantly consider a Parker separator.
Wow... That's quite a hook up, indeed. Those old Quincy compressors can be nearly indestructible. Ask him if he wants to build two of them! 🤣
Also, if you're building a completely custom air system, you may want to consider putting the compressor in an auxiliary structure away from your work space. Just a compressor and motor would probably fit in a deck box... It would be a nice way to keep the noise away from you.
@@TheBrokenLife What is a "Deck Box"? A remote mount might be a great idea!
@@dans_Learning_Curve A plastic box that people put outside for storage. It would be pretty inconspicuous for an air compressor house.
Part of that moisture you felt when the fitting was leaking may have also been from the air expanding, pulling heat out of the environment and thus condensing water droplets out of the surrounding air....
BTW The 4 bolts that hold the compressor to the tank are 5/16 18tpi 1-1/4long thread cutting type bolts. Those require a 1/2" wrench but because those that come with the compressor are "Made in China" with questionable tolerances they don't fit either the 1/2" wrench, with 12mm being too small and 13mm being too large.
I remember in the video confirming the thread pitch, but I've had a lot of trouble with wrench fitments in general over the last several years. I need to start measuring things when I run across them so I can see which end of the situation is the problem.
I’m currently watching a few of these videos trying to formulate the best water separator. I have to say the version that run lots of coils through water, like a beer keg, look the best to me.
Cooling is everything.
Now that I've had this in operation for over a year, I can report that it's pretty much perfect. I don't get _any_ water in the tank. I've seen the air-to-water loop like you're describing, and I do like the concept, but for half the year my shop is prone to dropping below freezing and then for the other half the water would need topped off all the time from evaporation. The system I have in place doesn't carry those risks and it even drains itself. I'm very pleased with it... so much so that I bought a second of the exact same Parker separator as a spare.
@@TheBrokenLifeJust adding this thought for future watchers/readers, not knocking your solution. Antifreeze (specifically RV/Marine antifreeze) and a lid would MOSTLY address both of those issues.
@@GoggleAX Fair enougih. 👍
Also I believe you can wear out the Burns on motor and the pump as though spaces are creating vibration within the belt
I'm not sure that I understand your comment.
If you have some, long-reach pliers would spare your hand discomfort when using the temp probe.
I was too worried about crushing the probe. It's just bare thermocouple wire so it won't take much abuse.
I think you did not use the ratcheting bender quite correctly. I watched my brother doing an HVAC installation and he makes most of the bend angle and then feeds the pipe a bit further through the tool and then runs the bend tool again. This increases the bend radius a little but allowed bend angles greater than 90 degrees and prevents any kinking of the line. Hope this helps.
It's entirely possible, and probable, that I didn't use the tool correctly, but that isn't HVAC tube in the video. It's not "copper", despite how it looks, and I don't think it has the same temper and wall thickness either.
So, I wouldn't say the nicop line I used is "hard" to work with, but it's not as forgiving as some of the dead-soft copper I've seen used for HVAC so it's not really fair to compare them. The bending springs I ended up using are intended for that type of tube, which is why they gave me a bit of trouble of this harder stuff.
I would also imagine most HVAC guys could do a better job than I did no matter what tube it was. 😂
@@TheBrokenLife Yeah, I have only done automotive and the compound bend never occurred to me until I saw him do this. Just wanted to throw it out there. As you said may not work as well on CuNi as it does soft Cu.
Instead of using a trans cooler, you could use the small ac condenser unit from minivans or suv's with the rear ac option from a junkyard.
I did consider something like that. I didn't pursue it because new they cost a fortune, used in good condition at junkyards in my area is a dice roll at best (and I have very few "local" junkyards, they're all about an hour away), the attachment methods would have been questionable (is it 3/8" or 10mm tube?), and I would have had to buy some amount of tubing to plumb to it anyhow.
All-in-all, I'm pleased with my solution. I do need to make a follow-up video on this setup now that it has some hours on it though. I haven't drained the tank since this spring, which is probably 6-8 hours of run time ago, so it will be interesting to see how much water has made it into the tank since then. The last time I attempted it, virtually none was in the tank.
Rubber transmission and engine mounts are available in a wide variety of designs and more than strong enough for air compressor use.
I'm not sure how that would have worked out with what I was trying to do, unless you're suggesting I bolt it to the floor?
I like the color of the nicopp line. Your compressor looks good.
Thanks!
Did you consider trying to balance the flywheel? It is a big piece of cast iron so it wouldn't be surprising if it was a major source of vibration.
I did consider it, and even mentioned it in a prior video, but I don't really have an effective way to do it and it's still under warranty. Once the warranty period ends, I may gave it a shot.
Sound to me that if you left the tube as a clock spring it work out with less trouble.
I considered it, but there are some down sides to that approach. Every loop would have had standing water in the bottom of it that I could never get out (maybe that would be a problem, maybe not), I would have had to make the tubing cross over itself at some point without causing a rub point or a kink while also securing it, a coil would have concentrated the heat to a tighter area and to itself (heat rising through each coil above it), and I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't have been able to package as much length of tube.
In the end, the system seems to be working out great. Maybe one way or another would have been easier, but the practice didn't hurt me any. I'd never worked with anything as large as 3/8" before so it was a good chance to learn.
Look up compression limiters for the isolators. those isolators will wear out eventually and you'll likely throw the belt.
I'm sure they will some day. Rather than put limiters on them, I will probably just order some spares. A good point for sure. 👍
just a suggestion- when you lift the head onto the dampeners you create a tension inconsistency in the belt bcz the motor is fixed to the tank, .better maybe to make a steel plate to mount the motor and the head then set that plate on the dampers ( and use a braided stainless flex pipe instead of a solid aluminium pressure inlet tube ?
I knew going in that the relative motion between the motor and the compressor could cause problems, but so far it hasn't. The compressor _just_ kicked over 10 hours of run time so I'll probably be making an update video on this subject soon. All in all, I like how it's all turned out.
Thank for sharing about the stone guard. Didn’t know about that stuff
Thank _you_ for watching! 👍
Instead of trying to bend the 3/8 pipe, save some time and use “U” connectors like the A/C condensers use. Makes a neat installation and you can use more pipe for cooling.
I'll check into those. 👍
Had another thought 😥🙄.
What about using the cooling grill from an old fridge, smaller bore but more area?
I will subscribe 🤣🤣
People do stuff like that and it seems to work just fine, but without knowing the exact specification of the parts you really don't know what pressure they're rated to tolerate. Smaller bore would also not be desirable because it could restrict air flow.
Also, you still have to plumb into and out of that heat exchanger so you're still going to end up buying a coil of material, or some hoses, or whatever. When I looked at the whole system, even if the heat exchanger were free, I was going to spend the same amount of money regardless. So I just didn't buy an exchanger and rolled the dice on performance. It worked out.
@@TheBrokenLife
Oh well, back to the skip🤣🤣
Great video as always
Thanks! 👍
How about taking the flywheel to a machine shop, like a custom engine builder, & have it harmonically balanced
The entire compressor assembly, with another flywheel, would cost less. It's only $150 as an assembly.
That said, it seems like it's OK. If it was off balance, I would have expected at least an oil leak by now and it's been good. I have been considering buying a spare compressor unit for it and swapping them out just to see what would happen though.
@@TheBrokenLife guess it depends on if you know someone in the trade
@@ericschulze5641 Of course. If you're offering free harmonic balancing, I'll see about getting it in the mail for you. 😉
Get yourself one of those segmented belts. Cut my compressor noise in half! Harbour freight has them for about 30$
Hummm... I've seen adjustable/segmented belts before, but I'd never heard about them for vibration or noise reduction. I may have to look into that in the future.
A transmission cooler can be bought for less than what you spent on tires and rubber bushings.
I thought I explained why I didn't go down that path in the video..?
And... Tires and bushings do not an aftercooler make.
@@TheBrokenLife
You may have, but I have a bad habit of not waiting until I've seen the whole video before I comment. Now a regular tube/fin cooler (which are much cheaper than the superior bar and plate design, but the tube and fin is what you'd want here) can be bought for $20 all day long. But what you made works too, plus you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself, lol.
@@bryanrussell6679 When I was shopping, I wasn't seeing prices quite that low. I also think I stated in the video that I'd still have to buy all of the fittings and "some" amount of tube no matter what I did, so what I did ended up being cheaper in the end. The cheapest coolers I saw didn't even come with ends suitable for fittings. They're push-to-connect or simple hose barbs. That's not quite what I was after.
Also... The Nicop line I used is regularly used in systems up to 1000psi. I have no idea what anyone's cheap transmission cooler could be rated to. I think I saw some of the Derale coolers marketed as 175psi, but they were _not_ cheap. I also have ambitions of some day making more air pressure than that, so testing things now made an amount of sense.
Anyhow, after over a year of service on what I did, I'm very pleased with it. No water at all gets into the tank and it drains itself automatically after every compressor cycle. It's been pretty much perfect. On really hot days I think it could use some accessories fans, just to help it out, but I don't think they're mandatory.
@@TheBrokenLife
Now that would be quite a build, liquid cooling radiator with an electric fan, a custom fan/water pump controller, etc.
But kidding aside, you're right about all of that. It would take some work to make the transmission cooler work. And as you said, what you did build serves it's intended purpose and does so while being easy on the wallet. Win win.
@@bryanrussell6679 The water cooled version of this setup is to run the tubing through a bucket of water. There are a few folks showing systems like that on CZcams. I have every reason to believe that system would work great, but it's just beyond what I need.
The real big-boy stuff is straight up air conditioning. If I were going to overkill, that's probably the path I would take. If you can't get the air temp 30 degrees under ambient, why bother? 😆
The large pulley is that shape for strength.😏🤜🏼🤛🏼🍀🇦🇺😎
The size of the spokes for sure add strength, but their shape is a fan blade. 👍
Great video and I have come away with plenty to think about and impkement.👍👍👍👍
When it came to unscrewing the spring bender what about sticking an end in your cordless drill (size limiting) and trying it in reverse?
Thanks! 👍
You couldn't put a drill on the bending spring because the tube is hanging out of the end of it where the drill would need to go. That's not apparent on the sample piece I used for discussion because it's so short, which is my fault.
@@TheBrokenLife
Can't say I didn't try 🤣🤣
@@jonnyshoestring9368 Indeed you did! 👍
I'm just wondering if you were to use copper elbows if it would allow you to have more bends to it and then add a Seperator in line to catch any moisture coming out of the copper before it went into the tank? Just my thought,
I purposely avoided copper because it's more prone to work hardening, lower pressure, and more expensive than NiCop line.
I _do_ have a separator before the tank. 😉
What comes straight to my mind, is have the engine relocated under the tank(solid).
Sounds counter intuitive, but have the engine at the bottom, under the pressure vessel. That way there’s no resonance running through the tank.
The problem with that, from a manufacturer perspective, is then all of the water would drain back into the compressor head (the "engine") and not into the tank. The compressor would hydrolock when it attempted to compress the water, which would destroy it. That wouldn't be great.
From my perspective, even ignoring the water problem, that would just be WAY too much effort. 😆 More-or-less how the factory designed it was pretty much alright with me. We got there in the end! 👍
Are there any provisions for liquid cooling the heads? As far as a fan goes, could you use a car radiator fan? You can probably get them pretty cheap at a junk yard.
Not that I've ever seen. Normally on big stuff (industrial equipment) the compressor technology is entirely different so I'm not sure how they handle any cooling on the compressor itself. They do still have aftercoolers, but they're usually refrigerant based... kind of like a giant window air conditioner that cools the air charge down. Obviously way above my pay grade. 😆
I considered 12v fans, but I didn't want to come up with a power supply beefy enough to run them. The fans I ended up with were under $30 for the pair, new. They're not super strong performers, but I don't really think I need them to be. Now that cooler weather is setting in it probably won't be a concern until next summer.
@@TheBrokenLife I don't know if it will work or not, but if you use a regular old house fan, you may want to put felt in the bearings soaked in oil. Most modern household fan use Oilite bushings which are generally not user serviceable. I think you have to remove them, put them in a cup of oil and then put the whole thing under a strong vacuum,
Presumably it will get hotter than they ordinarily would just operating in a window or sitting on the floor. As it is, in my area, fans last maybe 5 years with 3 months of use per year, albeit those being the 3 hottest months. They also lose their effectiveness with a surprisingly small amount of dust on the blades. I'm always surprised at the difference before and after cleaning, even with what seems like very little dust built up on the edge of the blades.
@@tarstarkusz The fans will be on a control system so they, more or less, only run when the compressor does.
I have absolutely no reason to doubt your thoughts on the low quality of the cheapest fans I could find, but they're probably only going to run 10-20 hours a year. I'd like to believe they'll make it for a little while at that pace.
That said... This spring I went to the opposite extreme and bought a fancy DC inverter oscillating fan for in the house and it might be the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Pretty much infinite speed control, almost silent under about 1/3 throttle, moves an insane amount of air, and the oscillation and fan run on separate motors so no matter the fan speed you get the same oscillation speed every time. This also means you can enable/disable oscillation via remote control. It's way overkill if you just need "a fan", but for a bedroom fan it's incredible. It's crazy just how wide the household fan market is these days.
37:19 Maybe do coils instead of the zig-zag. Kinda like an electric stove eye. Even 2 or 3 layers of coil. Pretty much eliminates the kinking.
It would have been tough to do that and keep the water running down hill into the separator.
@@TheBrokenLife
True. But the air will keep it moving, just like you said about the drop-leg at the beginning.
And, then again, lots of people have CZcams posted those massive vertical copper pipes going up and down.
I've seen people use junkyard automotive AC condensers.
@@mikejoyce3782 Perhaps?
I can't really comment on the functional performance of anything anyone else has done. I made the design choices I did to try to keep as much water as possible going downhill away from the tank as much as possible, while using the most durable materials I could get that were reasonably priced, and it seems to be working. I haven't seen _any_ water in the tank drain, but a ton dumps out of the separator every now and then.
I did upgrade to stainless compression fittings though. I couldn't get the brass ones to stay sealed up and I eventually cracked them trying. I didn't realize until after the fact that the stainless fittings use a different, and much more robust, sealing mechanism. I need to make a video about that, actually. 😆
@@TheBrokenLife
I agree with your plan. Just offering options for others. Looking for the video update.
@@mikejoyce3782 I badly owe this channel some content, that's for sure. 😂
Soon... I think!
Good content.
Appreciate the nuances of success and failure.
Although your voice is clear, i.e., easy to understand, I do wish the Californian Valley Girl inflection at the end of 95% of every sentence wasn't there. It makes every sentence sound like you're asking a question. Go back and listen to it.
I've read every comment to date and no one else has mentioned to date but I did see you've stated multiple times that this is a one of you top paying videos so I guess others don't find it annoying.
Apparently, that's just the way you talk . I'm sure it's just me, but I had to mute the video and turn on Closed Captioning just to bear through it.
Can't please everybody. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks for watching. 👍
Yeah, don't take the steel set screw out of the aluminum before drilling. JFC.
Those are steel collars, that I took a very light cut on, and I didn't drill into the sets (that I'm not even using in my application)...
I don't know what it is about air compressor videos, but they attract every shop-Karen from here to the moon. JFC, indeed. 😂
What'd you expect when you cut corners on drilling & buy Ryobi?
Not the 20 years of reliable service I've gotten out of it, and the rest of my original 5 piece kit, that's for sure. That set has been one of the best investments in tools that I've ever made.
But... if I'd have known how deeply offended you would be all these years later, I would have called you and asked for the extra $500 to buy the DeWalt set instead. My email address in the video description accepts PayPal. Inflation adjusted, that's $840. I can send you an invoice if it's easier...
Work smarter not harder, But seeing how you lack 2 cent to afford a Dewalt toolset & think I have a brand loyalty. We see why you hand drill cockeye in a vise. You spent hunk money on a machine you still seem have to modify.😅
@@thatghi9433 Seems pretty smart for me to have saved that 500 bucks and also, 20 years later, trigger a room temp IQ rando on the internet into boosting my monetized video by telling me about how much better he is than me.
Keep telling me about _all_ of the things I'm doing wrong... This is the second highest earning video on the channel. Please help get it to number ONE! 😂
4.6 only peanut😅
@@thatghi9433 This channel is "only" in the top 5% of all channels, out of over 100 million, on the biggest search engine on Earth... and I've done it twice. I'm very proud of that accomplishment and I thank all of you for helping me get there...
These hot takes of yours keep getting better and better. You kicked rocks at me for getting an insane amount of use out of budget tools, then insult the second highest earning video on the channel (which has paid for itself... easily), and now being successful in a business where almost everyone fails is "only" so good...
Keep up the good work! 😆
I've never seen a compressor shake that bad take your pump and flywheel to a electric motor shop and have the real ancestors your rotating assembly
I didn't realize that a motor shop could balance such things, but I imagine the fee to do so would exceed the price of the pump and flywheel. To the surprise of both of us, it really doesn't seem to be a problem. It has 11 hour on it now and it's not even leaking.
At four minutes, I was thinking the compressor would walk more with the soft engine mount dampers.
Just saying
It worked out the other way, but there was no way to keep a belt on it with the soft ones installed.
do you think theres any merit to trying to use a small automotive intercooler instead of the coiled copper pipe?
As in a boost cooler? No. I suspect any of them that would be cost effective would not be rated for the pressure generated by an air compressor.
I think I mentioned in the video that some guys prefer to use things like oil coolers or transmission coolers for their setups. I went the way I did because it was lower cost than the coolers and capable of higher operating pressures. It's not copper, it's NiCop, which is stronger and cheaper than copper. Now that it's been in service for awhile, it's pretty much as effective as I could hope for. There's practically no water getting into my tank so I'm happy with my result.
I plan to add some cheap fans to it to see if I can get the final 10 or so degrees out of it and to keep the compressor itself cooler. I would say that's all optional though.
Spark at 28:22
Right you are... That's extremely strange. Even with the rubber isolation everything should still be grounded the whole way through. I'll have to keep my eye on that and see if it does it again.
I would have just used a rubber mat under compressor. I'm here to see the after cooler.
That works as long as you never need to move it... I also have to confess I never even thought about a mat until someone else mentioned it. 😁
Cool. Aftercooler is in the same video... 👍
Well, your video has been out a while now. I'm wondering if those isolators have accelerated the wear-out of the drive belt. Have you inspected it lateley?
I do need to make a follow-up on it soon, but so far everything is going fine (I think it only has 12 or so hours on it, so things would have to be really bad for it to be shredding the belt at this point). The isolators really are not nearly as soft as I think some guys might believe they are, but it's difficult to show that on camera.
@TheBrokenLife 12 hours is a pretty short time. Maybe after 200 hours, you can revisit that belt.
@@ronyerke9250 200 hours on that compressor would be almost 2000 0-150psi cycles and will take a typical home user many years to accumulate. I'd be pretty fine with putting a belt on it at that point. The spare belt that I put into my inventory for it was only $13.
@@TheBrokenLife I never really thought about how little you may be using the compressor. Most of my experience with compressors comes from factories and shops. It's pretty common to replace belts annually there.
@@ronyerke9250 This guy is just a little 120V hobby compressor. It's a tinker toy compared to anything in a real production environment.
Thinking back to my most aggressive projects, I may have used 15 hours of air for the whole project and normally a "big" project like that would be all I could afford for awhile anyhow. 15 hours of actual air flowing easily means days (or weeks) in the shop and a few grand of parts and materials flowing from my wallet. Even if I had the air, I couldn't afford to pay for the jobs to use it. 🤣
never trust a guy that wears sandals lol
If it makes you any more comfortable, I was naked otherwise. 🤣
@@TheBrokenLife lolol
can i use air hose instead of tubing for the lines?
i only see people using tubing in their videos.. idk why
Which lines are you specifically asking about?
@@TheBrokenLife motor to cooler.. cooler to water separator.. separator to air tank.. all those lines
@@prawnstar502 The cooler lines need to be some sort of metal for the purpose of heat transfer. The stuff after the separator can be something else if you want.
The lines coming directly off the heads get hot. Air hose goes the way of the wind in short order at 200 plus degrees constant use. After the cooler a good non-hard air line might have a chance depending a lot, on the temp reduction of the cooler.
Hi TBL. Just wondering if you (or anyone else) feel that DeWALT DXCM301 (AKA DXCMLA1683066) 30 gallon air is reliable enough for me doing some hobbyist (maybe 2 or 3 hrs in a month) sandblasting in a Floor Model Sandblasting cabinet? If you dont think so, would that be due to a lack of CFM or due to the 30 Gallon volume, or both (or neither)?
Media blasting is one of the most air intensive things you can do so the largest compressor you can afford (in dollars, space, and power) is always going to be better. In my research, the DXCM301 was the largest compressor I could find (without doubling the price for little more to gain) that would still run on 120V. If you have 220V power available, I'd absolutely step up to something like the DXCM603 for the minimal price difference between them. Frankly, if I were to go that far, I'd go even further into something like an IR TS4N5... but by the you're talking about almost 3 times the price of the DXCM301. Decisions, decisions... I go over some of my thoughts from when I purchased this compressor in other videos in the compressor playlist (linked in the description).
With that said, it depends on what kind of sandblasting you're talking about. There's a big difference between something like etching some whiskey glass stencils a few times a month and something like restoring automotive suspension parts. One is a few minutes of work and the other can be several hours.
For whatever it's worth, from a full tank at 150psi I can run a typical blow gun, unregulated, for maybe 2 or 3 minutes before the tank pressure is too low to be of any use, then it takes about 8 minutes to completely rebuild and the compressor has a 50% duty cycle (that means that if it runs for 10 minutes, you're supposed to leave it off for the next 10 minutes, ie., it only runs 50% of the time).
Taking some guesses at what a typical sandblasting setup would look like for pressure and flow rate, I'd say you'd be able to blast effectively for 5-8 minutes, rebuild pressure and rest the compressor for 20, and then another 5-8 minutes working, etc, etc. So, if you think you have 5-8 minute bites, then a compressor this size would probably suit you perfectly. If you have 2-3 hour bites, you're going to be at those all day.
Now... I am fairly abusive to compressors and readily willing to ignore the duty cycle, but... it's not the right thing to do and it will shorten their life. You can also cheat it a little bit if you have a way to help cool it (extra fans or whatever), but there really is no magic that is going to make a compressor that is simply too small for the job become adequate.
The TLDR is that it's impossible to buy a compressor that is "too big", especially for media blasting. Good luck with it! 👍
@@TheBrokenLife I really appreciate the feedback. Thank You for suggesting more tangible info than I have been able to get elsewhere.
For space reasons, I need vertical and portable, electrical needs to remain @120V. So what you are suggesting does offer me some hope.
Because I'd be running the gun at around 70psI and mostly removing rust from Rebar and Paint from cut up bike frames, I'm hopeful I can squeeze about 15min out of an hour. I think that my worth of being capable will override the frustration of the limitations of sanding time.
Additionally, I was mulling the thought of buying an auxiliary add-on tank to increase compressor volume by 11 gallons. Maybe that could add 3 to 5 minutes of volume per hour if below 125psi (unless that is a futile effort). I expect this would affect the Duty cycle, but an approx 20min overall blast time per hour, would be worth the expense. If I'm barking up the wrong tree here, please dont hesitate to blow some compressed air in my face. :-)
@@allyg8or You're very welcome.
Since you have the same limits I do, the 301 is the best on the market (within reason) so it's the best you can do.
An auxillary tank will just make the compressor run for longer once it kicks on. They don't really get you much outside of that first session. I suggest you save your money for other things you'll probably find you need, like a good regulator, good media, good extraction, and a good respirator. Those are all way more important than another 10 gallons of capacity. Plus... it's not always easy to find those small tanks that are good for 150psi+.
im commenting on this video because its more recent but i was watching another of your air compressor videos
czcams.com/video/DFbJzlc42Ks/video.html
and at the 7 min area youre rebuilding a quick connect thats been filled with debris. just a random thought and you may have already done it as the video is 2 years old.
where you came out the old regulator spot with a T fitting, instead of a second hose connection why not run a permanetly fixed hose with valve, like for the bottom of the tank, and point the t fitting down, now the rarely used second fitting is instead a debris catch with easy empty. (air on, open valve, debris be gone!)
The short answer to that is because there shouldn't be any rust in there, period. My neglect of that compressor (failing to drain it frequently) is what caused that problem and the dryer/separator setup I just deployed on the DeWalt is intended to _mostly_ eliminate it. I have an automated drain setup in the works as well so hopefully tank rust, at least of any severity where it would cause flakes and chunks, should be a thing of the past.
I do get where you're coming from. If it were a normal thing to have happen then your proposal is totally reasonable. I believe in the plumbing world what you've described is called a "dirt leg".
@@TheBrokenLife honestly I'm just finding your channel, nice content. True the compressor shouldn't be doing that at all. As I said in sure I'm. A day late and a dollar short on the whole conversation as I have yet to see the other videos. Thanks for replying, I always appreciate an intellectual opinion
@@darkwarrior1588 Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the channel!
Don't feel bad about showing up late. For reasons unknown to me, CZcams decided to take that video (which was already the most viewed on the channel for reasons also unknown to me) and promote it beginning about a week ago. Views on it have gone from 100-200/day to 5,000-10,000/day. _LOTS_ of people are coming into the conversation. Something like 20% of my subscribers have joined in the last 7 days.
I don't know what I did so right, or so wrong, to have that video go nuts. But... I'd rather be lucky than good. 😆
Your tube will hold water…
The tube doesn't seem to mind it. It drains lots of water regardless.