What are these compressors?

[Bmw4life]

I found some interesting compressors.
Any thoughts?
this one is some kind if a dental compressor, but it has a dryer and seens powerful. I cant find cfm information though. I wonder why i cany be used in a garage?

This next one, I also can't find cfm information. No cfm information.






And the last one, the ad says 100 cfm, but is that even possible?




These are definitely not your everyday compressors, but what's the deal with them?

 

[cvairwerks]

The first two are medical/dental use compressors. The IR is an industrial unit and 100 SCFM is possible, depending on delivery pressure.
Would need to do some digging to find the complete specs on the IR.

 

[22george]

Interesting.

 

[micromind]

100 CFM @ 100 PSI is about 25HP, 175 PSI = 30HP.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Most dental tools are low CFM (like 2-3 at 80 PSI). In a large office one compressor may have multiple chairs my guess is those are 8, maybe 10 CFM.
A couple of the main concerns for dentists are clean air and quiet operation.

 

[Bmw4life]

The ad for the first compressor states

AirStar 70 (Air Techniques) triple 1.5 HP head oil-less air compressor. 30 gallon tank with auxiliary condensation tank. 15cfm @ 80 psi.

I'm wondering if this can be used for other than dental use? Not sure if there's any caveats how a medical compressor works, or is it air is air?
I'd be super happy with a portable compressor that can produce 15 cfm even an 80 psi! Usually for that much air you require at least a massive 60 gallon that's so hard to move and probably is more noise. Don't know if it can run higher than 80cfm or not though.


The third compressor seems pretty cool too. For only $1000. All the 60-80 gallon produce only 10-20 cfm, which is actually great. If this thing does 100 cfm, that's kinda insane for only $1000. Like unless this thing breaks, you'd never need to buy another compressor again.

 

[micromind]

The ad for the first compressor states

AirStar 70 (Air Techniques) triple 1.5 HP head oil-less air compressor. 30 gallon tank with auxiliary condensation tank. 15cfm @ 80 psi.

I'm wondering if this can be used for other than dental use? Not sure if there's any caveats how a medical compressor works, or is it air is air?
I'd be super happy with a portable compressor that can produce 15 cfm even an 80 psi! Usually for that much air you require at least a massive 60 gallon that's so hard to move and probably is more noise. Don't know if it can run higher than 80cfm or not though.


The third compressor seems pretty cool too. For only $1000. All the 60-80 gallon produce only 10-20 cfm, which is actually great. If this thing does 100 cfm, that's kinda insane for only $1000. Like unless this thing breaks, you'd never need to buy another compressor again.

The 100CFM model will need 3 phase power.

Running a 25HP motor on a 200 amp single phase service with a phase converter or a VFD will be somewhat of a push. 30HP will be even worse.......

 

[PoorUB]

I would avoid any "medical" compressor. Parts can be ridiculous!
A buddy had a Silent Aire compressor. He had a denral lab, but retired so he was using the compressor in his home shop. It needed some attention and he brought it over for me to look at.

The pressure switch failed and was some weird proprietary switch. We considered using some common switch but it had an oil separator that used the pressure switch. We were not confident that removing the oil separator wouldn't create another problem. The replacement switch was close to $200.

It also needed a couple gaskets and they were $40 each, no way to substitute anything and have it be reliable.

We also changed to oil. It was some sort of synthetic oil. We shopped the oil a bit but it was $30 for a 20 ounce bottle and it needed two bottles. A couple quarts of compressor oil was jot much less, so we bought the OEM oil.

It needed a couple air filters and they were $15,

Anyway, by the time we were done it was $370'ish!

The big consolation is he had it for years and hadn't touched it. Plus it is virtually dead quiet. If you had a radio on in the shop you wouldn't hear the compressor. It was a 1-1/2 HP unit and a new one us around $3,500.

 

[cvairwerks]

The IR pump spec is 50 SCFM from 75 to 175 psig, and takes 15 hp to run. Page two from here:

https://www.compressorworld.com/assets/Engineering-Data-7100-Packaged1.pdf

 

[theoldwizard1]

California Air Tools makes special versions of their compressor for medical/dental use. Almost identical, but much better filtration. You can buy a sound deadening cabinet and they are almost silent.

 

[marinusdees]

I found some interesting compressors.
Any thoughts?
this one is some kind if a dental compressor, but it has a dryer and seens powerful. I cant find cfm information though. I wonder why i cany be used in a garage?

This next one, I also can't find cfm information. No cfm information.






And the last one, the ad says 100 cfm, but is that even possible?




These are definitely not your everyday compressors, but what's the deal with them?

The Pelton-Crane is indeed a dental compressor. I still have an 840-C hanging on the wall in my shop, in use. PC is no longer in business, if you can't find parts let me know, there used to be a guy in Tacoma who had a warehouse full of used dental equipment, some times parted it out. It has two separate compressor heads, integral motor, each 1/2 horsepower. Downside is, cannot start reliably at over about 80 psi, so mine comes on at 80, turns off at 100. PC had an excellent reputation, deserved, in my opinion.

 

[TRWham]

The secrets to dental air are low 1) noise and 2) oil carryover. When I was with Copeland (‘90s and ‘00s), we still supplied H body semi-hermetic compressors, originally designed in late 1940s, for dental air. They had no piston rings, but the pistons were selected based on actual measured bore size so the fit was very tight and they carried very little oil. They really would not be useful in a shop, unless you want to airbrush something.

 

[isb cornbinder]

The first two are medical/dental use compressors. The IR is an industrial unit and 100 SCFM is possible, depending on delivery pressure.
Would need to do some digging to find the complete specs on the IR.

I have an IR T30. This compressor makes air and pressure. It is everything and more for what I need or want.
I gathered together all of the components I needed to make this happed. It took about 12 months. My cost was about $450cdn and two hours labor.
I built a mobile base to make the compressor easy to move into a corner.
the compressor easily handles the MOD-U-BLAST 24-48 model

 

[marinusdees]

The secrets to dental air are low 1) noise and 2) oil carryover. When I was with Copeland (‘90s and ‘00s), we still supplied H body semi-hermetic compressors, originally designed in late 1940s, for dental air. They had no piston rings, but the pistons were selected based on actual measured bore size so the fit was very tight and they carried very little oil. They really would not be useful in a shop, unless you want to airbrush something.

FWIW The PC840-C has rings. We used this compressor in a dental setting for 20 years. Oil carryover was not a problem.

 

[Lassen Forge]

You need a fairly high volume for dental air, as you can have a lot of devices that use air - everything from drills to chairs. Multiply that times 6-10 dental operatories ("studios") and yeah, lotsa air. I wouldn't mind having one if I did a lot of painting (or drilled a lot of teeth!--lol--) as their output is clean and fitted with an oil separator, and have a looooong duty cycle.

 

[TRWham]

FWIW The PC840-C has rings. We used this compressor in a dental setting for 20 years. Oil carryover was not a problem.

I did not mean to imply select fit was required, just that that is how they did it for the H bodies. Not even all of Copeland's dental air compressors were (some K bodies went to that market for example).

 

[Bmw4life]

The first option is out, being a 3 phase...
My electrician said not to bother, too much hassle.


PC840-C
The second option, its a pretty big compressor seems like, i have a feeling i wont be able to find parts for it, and it wont be easy to move around either.
Still unsure about the cfm on it.

I'm thinking that the airstar 70 could be an interesting option. I might be taking some risk, but the price is really good...like $300, while there 5k online.
I think the wires on the left, I can connect them to a plug, and the wires on the right, I'm not too sure what to do with them.
I think that in case the unit doesn't work properly, I could always even sell the parts and make my money back, judging by ebay.
If it's quiet and has a system to dry the air, it would be ideal.

 

[Bmw4life]

The Pelton-Crane is indeed a dental compressor. I still have an 840-C hanging on the wall in my shop, in use. PC is no longer in business, if you can't find parts let me know, there used to be a guy in Tacoma who had a warehouse full of used dental equipment, some times parted it out. It has two separate compressor heads, integral motor, each 1/2 horsepower. Downside is, cannot start reliably at over about 80 psi, so mine comes on at 80, turns off at 100. PC had an excellent reputation, deserved, in my opinion.

You have the same compressor?

Hanging on the wall?? How, it's so big it seems! Do you know how much cfm it has by a chance?

 

[Bmw4life]

I'm going to check this Air Star 70 today.
I like that the manual is easily available online, so it's not an overly obscure model or anytning.
It's rated at 15 cfm at 80 psi which is amazing. The max psi is 115, so I'm not sure how much cfm it can produce at around 100 psi, but probably more than 10.
Main benefits for me are dry air, relatively small size and quietness.

My 30 gallon speed air compressor already provides 10 cfm. If i connect them both together, I'll pretty much have 60 gallon of air at 20 cfm. I think that'd be for home garage sandblasting.

 

[marinusdees]

You have the same compressor?

Hanging on the wall?? How, it's so big it seems! Do you know how much cfm it has by a chance?

I'll see if I can send a picture. I'll climb a ladder (maybe, I'm 86) and see if it calls out cfm.

 

[The Cobbler]

I think the wires on the left, I can connect them to a plug, and the wires on the right, I'm not too sure what to do with them.

I think what's missing there is a magnetic starter . the wires on the right are for the pressure switch. it likely had a mag starter , activated by the pressure switch to turn on the motor ( wires on the left)

 

[Bmw4life]

No need, but I appreciate the offer. Don't climb for nothing my friend.
I checked out that AS70 compressor yesterday. It was definitely nice. But it took about 5 minutes to fill up from empty, which is almost twice as long as the manual calls for.
Based on the cfm calculator, I gathered it was only outputting about 5 cfm, not 15 and not even 10.
The orthodontist did not instill a lot of trust in me lol. I don't think he did regular maintenance etc. Like the yearly filter changes. I almost bought it still, but it didn't fit into my SUV.
So I was gonna get a truck and buy it today, but ended up finding a BRAND NEW speedaire compressor, exactly the same model as the one I have.
So I decided to pass on AS70 and purchased a second speedaire. Now with 2 compressors combined, I got 40 gallon, 20 cfm system.
The nice thing about speedairs, I can move them by myself. The AS70, impossible to get it down the stairs alone.