Air filtration needs for new compressor

[motoguy]

I'm getting ready to hook up a newly purchased 60 gal compressor. This thing will have dedicated air lines for my newly purchased CNC plasma table, and my CNC mill. Will probably also run a dedicated line to a hose reel. This will also feed a blast cabinet and powder coat gun, but I have not yet decided on placement.

I'll probably go with black iron lines, though copper is also attractive for the lack of rust. I have purchased the Harbor Freight refrigerated air dryer, and electric automatic tank drain valve (non HF).

I'm wondering what other filters I will want in place here. Should I have a particulate filter after the tank, but before the refrig air dryer? It seems that keeping debris out of those fins would be a good idea. Would I want a coalescing filter before the refrig air dryer as well? Or just put those in front of the plasma, mill, blaster, and powder gun, at line end? Will line-end water filters still be necessary, behind the refrig air dryer? Do I want to run the particulate and air dryer beforethe tank, to keep the tank clean?

This is all in my garage, for now. Will be moving to a shop in the future, once I get it up. I'm trying to hash all this out, and have it plumbed before the plasma table arrives, at the end of the month.

Also, will I still need the long metal loops/runs, with the refrig air dryer? Any benefit to running a loop like this before the refrig air dryer? I'm looking to pit in place reasonable (and cost effective) measures to protect my hardware, and assist with longevity.

Thanks!

 

[Cyberbear]

You have a lot of decisions to make, but I'd rethink the black pipe air lines and use galvanized. Never saw a black pipe air line that didn't generate lots of rust that had to be dealt with. The material cost savings using black pipe just ain't worth the hassle.

 

[motoguy]

I hadn't considered galvanized...just black iron or copper. I'll check that out.

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[engineer2]

The air dryer will condense moisture and oil vapor and with it remove most particulates. I don't know what type of refrigerant-to-air heat exchanger the HF unit uses, but I doubt there are fins inside the air tubing on this low-cost design.

I would put the filter after the air dryer. The filter element will last longer. If the black iron pipe gets coated with oil vapor, rust particles won't be a big issue. If your air compressor has very little oil blowby, you could get some rust particles which would dictate a another filter at point-of-use.

If you use copper or aluminum, you won't have rust issues. I did our plant in copper 16 years ago and have had zero complaints about air quality and we run equipment that requires clean air.

 

[motofool33]

friend of mine just had a transair aluminum system put in his 6500sqft shop 2 guys did it in 2 days like 15 drops. real easy to work with stuff i will be doing the same thing, i see northern tool now carries a version of it also it only comes in straight pipe length its not rolled like maxline air lines.


as for filters for my cnc plasma i went with Motorguard its relatively cheap 80$,

i went over and over the regulators and seperator systems out there they are so over priced. i ended up with some cheap metal regulators 3/4" inlet and outlet and a cheap metal water seperator, as even the expensive ones had alot of bad reviews.

put a water seperator at the baster if it doesn't already have one and a seperate filter.

 

[matt_i]

I have a Fadal VMC in my shop, it came with two little bowl-type air filters in series. I think the 2nd one is coalescing.

I find it weird you have machines costing from $10,000 to $25,000 and are complaining about the cost of buying proper quality air filtration. What does a spindle rebuild cost, $3,000? (most VMC spindles use a continuous air purge when running to keep coolant splash out of the bearings)

I just went on ebay and got Master Pneumatic, a Detroit based air-prep company, which were NOS, in beaten boxes but otherwise new and I think I paid $100 total for a 1" dia line tornadic separator and a coalescing filter which are in series. No drier. I have yet to drain any moisture out of the bowls on the Fadal.

Sorry to bust your balls but I think you should re-think thru the economics of this first. Moving to a shop building is going to be several hundred $ in rent, so before you go take on that debt load, every single month, I'd equip myself with the right facilitation right now. It can be moved wherever the machines go and presumably would last longer than the machines.

 

[motoguy]

I'm not complaining of cost...rather, I'm asking what I need, and where, to protect the machines in my system. The air dryer may be HF, but reviews I've read state that it works just as well as the units costing 2-3x as much.

When I say "moving to a shop", I mean "moving to the shop I'm putting up on our property in the next couple years". When we moved in December, I lost access to the the shop we had at the old house (the renters get it now).

After buying a new wood furnace (didn't like being reliant on propane), plasma table, leaving my old job to work from home, etc...we decided to delay the construction of the new shop. The garage setup is a temp situation, and associated infrastructure will be moving to the new shop with the equipment.

The plan is to be productive from the garage, until the shop goes up. The more productive I am, the easier it will be to convince the wife that the current proposal (40x60 shop) just isn't big enough.

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