Suggestions for air compressor regulator

[fume happy]

Good morning,
I recently acquired a rather archaic Bink's air compressor. Tank is good, runs nice, but it has no regulator to adjust the flow. It has a filter already, but filter quality is unknown. My plans for it include some occasional soda blasting, air tools, and painting *my* house at some point... it's not part of a business plan. Just wondering what experiences people have had with the various regulators, if there's a preferred one, or one to steer clear of.
Thanks!

 

[sberry]

I collect the stuff but I have bought a few pieces from the box stores. Find something that plumes from your filter or even add another fil/reg after the fact in a convenient location.
This little one was at Home Depot, was under $30 I think. It is 3/8 ported and just the right size for his class of tool, 1/2 impact etc.

 

[sberry]

I have had 2 pieces of cheap stuff go south over a career. 1 leaked and 1 broke but they were both old. I got my money's worth, they had been moved, used in several apps.
I had one break and figured I would get another then thought to look at what I had and found a direct fit I salvaged during a demo. Cleaned it up, the internal parts were good and put it right back together.

 

[larry_g]

Good morning,
I recently acquired a rather archaic Bink's air compressor. Tank is good, runs nice, but it has no regulator to adjust the flow. It has a filter already, but filter quality is unknown. My plans for it include some occasional soda blasting, air tools, and painting *my* house at some point... it's not part of a business plan. Just wondering what experiences people have had with the various regulators, if there's a preferred one, or one to steer clear of.
Thanks!

First point, regulators adjust pressure, not flow. Flow controls adjust flow. Second is to understand instrument regulators vs system regulators. There are a lot of instrument regulators available used but they are usually to small flow wise to do what you want. So when shopping make sure that the regulator will flow the amount of air (cfm) that you require. There are a lot of regulators out there with large fittings that have small internal passages and will not flow the amount of air you want.

That said Norgren, wilkerson, parker, and others are at the top of the pile.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[sberry]

I agree about instrument regs. The one I pic at first was pretty hi I think, close to 75 as I recall. They basically work on restriction and as long as they maintain pressure under load the flow and capacity is fine. This little thing I have for paint is plenty while set at 40,, don't recall what the rating is but bet in the 20 something.
A 1/2 impact is about the most demanding load most,, in this crowd will see. This is about 25 cfm, even the best of these guns. Some drop or rotary tools doesn't mean so much as long as the power is adequate.

 

[ATC]

I have an IR ARO piggyback filter/regulator setup (P39354-320). I have to mount a gauge to it, as I got the model without the built-in gauge (picked them up on clearance for something like $15). I just ordered a gauge from Amazon a few hours ago after running to Lowes for fittings to get everything hooked up.

 

[Steve_P]

A lower pressure does lower the flow rate so he's accidentally kinda correct. If you increase the pressure 4x it doubles flow thru an orifice - it varies by the square root of the pressure ratio. For flow in long pipes the friction lowers it, but for a short distance:

F2 = F1* sqrt (P2/P1)

I've only used wilkerson at home and have had multiple regulator failures over 20 yrs where they trumpet under flow . This is with relatively dry air with copper tube. We used SMC in factories where I worked and I never saw one fail and there were hundreds in use 24 hrs a day with crappy wet air in black pipe

 

[fume happy]

"Accidentally kind of correct" is how I roll.
Thanks for everyone's feedback.. I went with a husky 3/8ths pressure regulator from the box store. I already had a moisture remover inline, so I didn't double down.
Thanks!