Creepy
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Dartmouth
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Post by Creepy on Jul 23, 2010 16:35:41 GMT -4
Well its a broad topic, but plasma's need really dry air. Wet eats tips. -you gotta drain the tank everyday -the regulator/filter units (glass cup style) aren't good enough to dry the air. they get some out, you need one after the tank, father away the better. -the PA dessicant drier works ok, but the dessicant cubes suck ass. you gotta by silicon beads at about $120 for 3 refills. they are blue and turn pink when saturated. put em in oven to dry. -you need another cup style filter after the drier -i'm considering adding a paper element filter right at the plasma. this is recommended for my high useage. they are about $200. -my system also has a huge tube I'm going to try to make a DeltaT MarkI thermo-mechanical seperator out of. right now it just functions as a tank, so it collects some condensaton, and I drain it too. for the price of the PA drier, I'd say it does a good job. you gotta get the good dissicant tho. autobody shops local to you might carry it, for drying painter's air. i've put gate valves on all my drains so I can just crack 'em wide open everyday to drain. I get 1/2L every single day out of a 60G standup compressor. Big rainstorm, 30Deg, and really high humidity last week ate a tip too, just the weather! Couldn't dry the air enough. The difference will be like a new machine, way more powerful and smoother cuts with dry air. Its a good unit you have. i have Hypertherms, but its the same with the air. You could have posted this in tech, so I did for you!
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Post by gmtrucks on Jul 23, 2010 18:57:30 GMT -4
i worked in the air compressor buisness what you need is a refrigerated or regenerative air dryer to drop the dew point of the air there are several companies in burnside that specialize the this typre of product they are not cheep but well worth it you need to know how much air you are going to consume at the plasma to spec the dryers
there are probably ways you could build one if it s not being used for commercial usage
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Post by C Monster on Jul 23, 2010 19:35:12 GMT -4
ha Creepy thanks ;D i was when i got home to do it but did not know were to post it we need a tool only place on here but you did it first whats the best way to drain the air tank the gate valve like you say and what a gate valve any way
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Post by ©Big6™ on Jul 23, 2010 20:04:06 GMT -4
A ball valve would be the easiest way to drain the water.
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Creepy
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Dartmouth
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Post by Creepy on Jul 23, 2010 21:44:51 GMT -4
yeah, that's what I use, I thought they were called gate valves. designed for shut-off and full flow. ( it has a ball inside, maybe its slang)
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Post by C Monster on Jul 23, 2010 22:31:30 GMT -4
whats the best way to drain the water out of my 80 gallon tank, i have it full of air and open the brass drain cock on the bottom of the air tank . or let all the air out of the tank first and then open the bottom drain on the tank ???and let the water come out
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dan
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Post by dan on Jul 24, 2010 6:58:51 GMT -4
open the drain when the tank is full, it will push more water out than if it were running out without pressure. same process as draining the tanks on a highway tractor or dump truck, bring to full pressure, and then dump them until the system is empty.
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Post by theonlybull on Jul 24, 2010 7:01:55 GMT -4
yeah, that's what I use, I thought they were called gate valves. designed for shut-off and full flow. ( it has a ball inside, maybe its slang) those are ball valves. they have a ball, with a through hole drilled in it. allow full flow, and are easy to open under pressure. a gate valve, can be 1/4 turn, with a butterfly like a choke on a carb, or can be a guillotine style, with a threaded stem, and a hand wheel, or knob.
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Creepy
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Dartmouth
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Post by Creepy on Jul 24, 2010 8:09:19 GMT -4
ball valve - ok!
Dan - 'dump til system empty' - to clairify, dump until no more water comes out, you don't have to bleed all the pressure off. Do it for each tank and filter.
Wear hearing protection! dumping with a BALL valve is very loud, and you are within an arm's length.
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Creepy
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Dartmouth
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Post by Creepy on Jul 24, 2010 8:11:06 GMT -4
i worked in the air compressor buisness what you need is a refrigerated or regenerative air dryer to drop the dew point of the air there are several companies in burnside that specialize the this typre of product they are not cheep but well worth it you need to know how much air you are going to consume at the plasma to spec the dryers there are probably ways you could build one if it s not being used for commercial usage yep, you can run a condensing coil in the beer fridge. I might do this at some point.
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Post by a on Jul 24, 2010 15:37:30 GMT -4
a condensing coil or air line in a barrel of ice water
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Diffsmasher
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"Life is tough, its even tougher when you are stupid"- John Wayne
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Post by Diffsmasher on Jul 24, 2010 20:42:30 GMT -4
I think as was said before you need to cool the air and lower the dew point more specifically after the compressor and before your current dryers. Since the air is considerably hotter when it comes out of the compressor you may not need to use a refrigerator a barrel of cool tap water may work just fine if you pay attention to the temp and add cool/dump warm as necessary. A place I used to work had some old air conditioners around the shop that used water as a refrigerant. They were 100% dump so they wasted a lot of water but they blew ice cold air. A roll of of gasline soft copper tube tests at 350psig to qualify for gas service.
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Post by itsakeeper on Jul 25, 2010 7:56:48 GMT -4
hmmm, I'll price a small air dryer just for curiosity, we have filter/water separators that are supposed to take out 99.9% but they aren't dryers
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Creepy
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Dartmouth
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Post by Creepy on Jul 25, 2010 14:29:58 GMT -4
Are they paper element filters?
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Dewie
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Post by Dewie on Jul 26, 2010 7:22:43 GMT -4
on the back of my plasma cutter there is a filter that takes a roll of toilet paper (literally - that's what was in there when I got it)
I am having moisture issues myself lately and the plasma cutter works like crap... my compressor is located in the attic of my garage and the air lines all come down - I find sometimes when I go to use a line that hadn't been used in a while it's like it is full of water (not great when water comes shooting out of your impact wrench...)
I keep meaning to make up a couple of dryers out of steel like Creepy's to hopefully catch the water as it comes out of the hot attic and into the cool downstairs.
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