Compressor clean air?

[BHH]

Hey guys (and gals).

Just a quick compressor question. I use a lot of canned air, mainly for spraying down camera equipment and other parts and was thinking about getting a compressor instead of throwing away money with each can of air I buy. My question is how clean is the air that comes out of the hose? I won't ever be using it on lens glass or the camera sensors but I still don't want oil or contaminants spraying over other parts.

The compressor I am looking at is the Makita MAC2400. Overboard for just using it as an air sprayer but it will also be used for tire inflation and probably small paint spraying in the future. Will also allow me to step up to some other stuff if I ever need to do some light duty home reno type tools.

Thanks!

 

[littletoes]

Not clean at all!

They are not designed to produce that clean of air, and what of your piping? You must take that into consideration.

On a camera lens, if they are of extreme quality, I wouldn't use anything less than medical air, or medical grade nitrogen.
An example of cost; Regular Nitrogen in a large container might be a bit over $20.00, the same size in a medical grade might be $300.00.

That put it into perspective for you?

My wife has a very nice Canon 5D Mark III. Don't think I'd let her use my shop air for cleaning her lenses.

Now, if you just want to try coalescent filters, I just installed two for a painter that started at $600.00 each.

 

[reptilezs]

yea you might want to try the filters that painters use

 

[BHH]

So these filters go on before the hose? Or how do they work?

Yeah I won't be spray any glass or cameras really, more just parts and lighting equipment and other stuff around the shop.

I have a 5D MII and a 1DC so needless to say I won't be spraying those haha.

These medical grade containers you speak of, how much spraying do you think I could get out of a single tank? Would they be pretty decent pressure?

 

[littletoes]

Medical grade nitrogen comes in several different size bottles. If you live in a town of any size, you will surely have a gas supplier close by. Someplace where welders buy their oxygen, they will either have or be able to get medical grade nitrogen. Not sure if clean-dry nitrogen, used for refrigeration testing, would work.

A phone call would tell it all.

They come with 2000 psi, you'll need two regulators, one that will reduce the pressure down to below 100 psi, then another to possibly get it down to LPM I would guess.

Good Luck!

 

[Hawke]

I use bottled compressed air from my local welding gas supplier. I use it to run air tools and tyre inflation at the race track. $24 for a fill, 3000 psi, and it lasts a whole racing season.

Its easier than running a compressor at the track, and for your application it should be fine - its dry and oil free.

Of course, you will need a regulator to get it down to a safe working pressure.

 

[Jim Johnstone]

I use bottled compressed air from my local welding gas supplier. I use it to run air tools and tyre inflation at the race track. $24 for a fill, 3000 psi, and it lasts a whole racing season.

Its easier than running a compressor at the track, and for your application it should be fine - its dry and oil free.

Of course, you will need a regulator to get it down to a safe working pressure.

How big is the bottle and is that an exchanged rather than owned bottle?

Another option is a scuba tank and find a dive shop near you to refill it. Or paintball air tanks and the appropriate regulator and piping.

But if you are going to eventually do some paint spraying then buy a small compressor and do some research on the filtration that painters use to clean their air before they spray.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

 

[djjsr]

How about a dental compressor? I would think that should be pretty clean air. You'll find some on ebay.

 

[EOC_Jason]

How about a dental compressor? I would think that should be pretty clean air. You'll find some on ebay.

That's what I was thinking. Those dental grade oil-less units have filters, dryers, and all that good stuff. A friend of mine uses one for their engraver...