Drying your compressor air line

[Dengue]

Does anyone have any experience or comments on the effectiveness of this dessicant air drier connected to your compressor air line immediately after the water trap atthe compressor end?. The idea being to dry the air before it reaches your spray gun or air tool.
I am wondering if it also removes any oil and other particles from the air that the compressed air picks up from the compressor

505489

[BobL]

I have a 3 point automated venting system with air humidity measurement system and home made desiccator
For a description of the auto vent and measurement system see
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f271/compressed-air-line-auto-venting-system-227856?highlight=desiccant

I've also added a large home made dessicator.
For loads of nerdy details look here
Humidity measurements in compressed air - Page 2 (https://metalworkforums.com/f309/t202866-humidity-measurements-compressed-air/page-2?highlight=desiccant)

Iv'e also added a large finned cooling loop - described at the end of the same link as teh desiccant.

If you don't want to trawl through those threads, desiccant systems work well but not for very long and regenerating the desiccant especially for something that consumes a lot of air like spray painting becomes a PITA.
You'd be better off with a toilet paper type filter for something like spray painting.

There's a thread in the forums somewhere that mentions the toilet paper type filters.

[woodPixel]

I sprayed heaps for about 10 years.

I found the Amaxi filter. This is the bees knees for both cleaning oil, fug and water from the line.... It's brilliant.

The fact it is sold by pro panel shops demonstrates it is no toy. It works.

https://www.anest-iwata.com.au/products/airfiltersorregulator/amaf120

505491

[Dengue]

Thanks woodPixel- how does it work? Do you fill it with a toilet paper roll? Seriously.

[Dengue]

Thanks BobL. Would be interested in learning how to make a dessicated bowl filter like the one you showed, with beads.
How do the beads differ from silical gel crystals normally used to absorb moisture? Never seen them before.
Your applied computer systems are very impressive, well done!

[woodPixel]

It is absolutely 100% toilet roll!

Two of them :)

When the device is unwound, there is a mesh at either end, the rolls fit/slide over a rod that runs through the centre and it is wound up tight.

The paper adsorbs everything but the air.

From my use there is no appreciable drop in pressure or delivery. (confusing?...)

The rolls are replaced each fortnight.... dependant on use obviously. For a casual sprayer, probably never :) .... I think I've replaced mine two or three times.

I used mine for years when doing all the painting on the kids furniture. With the oil based painting it was magic. I was using an IronAir belt driven jobbie (FB1750 Compressor - belt 247LPM 3HP). I now use a Chicago Pneumatic Silent air compressor 70 (which is great BTW).

I might add, for its important to know, this isn't just me talking. If one "googles it" it is seen that the Amaxi are prominently sold (https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Amaxi%20Phase%203) at Paint and Panel refinishing companies and the "king" of detail spraying Anest Iwata. The fact that AI sells it in preference to ANY other system means a great deal.

They are not cheap, for it is larger than you'd think, plus they are industrially made. They will not fail.


Of course one can spend a great deal on better commercial solutions that contain desiccants and dehumidifiers. I went down this route once, but hoooo boy, what a PITA and its EASY to spend a lot of money fast... all for a negligible increment. I also looked at building a system of copper plumbing pipes (BobL advised me) - they simply go up/down half a dozen times, just like a sideways radiator, with taps at the bottom of the loops to periodically drain the water. This is an excellent idea to remove heat and water.

I see commercial desiccators being sold on Gumtree from spray shops that upgrade and these are a good price.

[Dengue]

Thanks for this woodPixel. Very interesting device, this dunny roll thing, pity it is so expensive. Certaily sounds the bees knees.
What stops the toilet paper from disintegrating after being hit with the incoming air, and what stops it going into the air hose when it does?

[woodPixel]

Turns out there are other paper filters out there :)

This one is $150 with free post off Amazon. It comes with two free replacement filters.

Motor Guard M-60 1/2 NPT Sub-Micronic Compressed Air Filter : Amazon.com.au: Home Improvement (https://www.amazon.com.au/MG-M-60-AIR-FILTER-NPT/dp/B000WZYKAE)

505516

[woodPixel]

Thanks for this woodPixel. Very interesting device, this dunny roll thing, pity it is so expensive. Certainly sounds the bees knees.
What stops the toilet paper from disintegrating after being hit with the incoming air, and what stops it going into the air hose when it does?

They are a bit expensive. I found another, posted above, that is half the price.

As for the paper rolls, they are both wedged in there pretty darn tight. The shape gives away some of the characteristics..... either end of the rolls are compressed within the cones.

The inlet and outlets are covered with mesh.

From my use, the end closest to the compressor gets manky quickly, but the rest of the roll and the second one, whose outlet is 180° opposed and also on the opposite end, ensures the air must travel via the route with least resistance..... my thinking is that as the paper becomes saturated, the air simply moves through a new path (the moist paper expands and becomes increasingly unpassable).

I used "good" TP :) This Kleenex (https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07C3Y2C4V) has very little chaff or dust compared to others. :)



I thought of this idea when first researching what to use, many years ago, as I remember as a kid seeing some inventor/nutter using it as a car oil filter... he took black filthy oil and passed a percentage of the engine oil via a bypass through his "filter". It came out gloriously clean. After a few minutes the entire engine oil was 100% clean. This obviously only removed the hyper-fine soots/particulates and didn't change the characteristics of the oil degradation itself though... curious why this isn't used now (???).....

edit - found! Acids is the answer. It might look clean, but the acids and chemical nasties are not removed, hence the oil change....

[BobL]

Thanks BobL. Would be interested in learning how to make a dessicated bowl filter like the one you showed, with beads.
How do the beads differ from silical gel crystals normally used to absorb moisture? Never seen them before.
Your applied computer systems are very impressive, well done!

Thanks.

Re How
The second link, the one in the MW forum, shows all the grimy details.

The Sigel crystals I'm using are the same as the regular Sigel beads but use an orange/green (iron based) indicator. The Blue based indicator crystals use a Cobalt. Apparently the Cobalt is not that good for you which is why they are no longer used. What happens is when handling them (filling - emptying and drying etc) a small amount of the crystals do beak up and make some dust. I'm using a 1 micron water purification filter inside the desiccant chamber to stop any dust coming through the air line.

Initially I was going to use multiple packets of clear Sigel crystals from a clothing importer as they use them to keep clothing dry in the large boxes in which the clothes are imported but that fell thru but then and old work mate of mine gave me about 3kg of the iron indicator crystals.

The toilet paper method is thought to be competitive with basic refrigerated cooling dryers but at a fraction of the cost albeit with more servicing.
Typical max performance of refrigerated cooling generates a reduction of average air humidity by about 20X.
Desiccant drying can supposedly get you to ~1000x drier air but the best I have seen it around 60x although that's probably because my humidity sensor doesn't read any lower than this.

Recharging the crystals is more work than changing toilet paper rolls. All that matters is there be less water than what would affect painting which the toilet papers easily achieve.

[Dengue]

WoodPixel, that Motor Guard unit with the two replacement filters looks good at $150. Trouble is the replacement filters are $75.
Wonder if this unit takes”Good” toilet papers instead

[woodPixel]

I should have kept the link, but... sort of.

A dude did experiments with 4 different bands. Unsurprisingly the best brands did best, but none qqquuuuiiittteeeee fit.. just not wide enough and just a bit too long when using two (how typical of a USA product. Such bastardry.)

There was mention of paper quality, rolled density and dustiness.


I think it comes with two spares and the extras are two packs? Let me look around, today is a lazy day :)

edit 1 - unsurprisingly, we are getting TOTALLY BENT OVER in Oz on prices.... a pack is USD$23.07 (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/143860040146) ..... looking looking....

edit 2 - Bingo... AUD$28.50 from Spray Paint Supplies (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/302025347075).

edit 3 - Booyaaaa... BC coatings! I shop here all the time for all of my spray gear... $17.68 (https://www.bccoatings.com.au/products-details/motor-guard-m-723-inline-replacement-filter-element.html). SOLVED!

[Dengue]

Turns out there are other paper filters out there :)

This one is $150 with free post off Amazon. It comes with two free replacement filters.

Motor Guard M-60 1/2 NPT Sub-Micronic Compressed Air Filter : Amazon.com.au: Home Improvement (https://www.amazon.com.au/MG-M-60-AIR-FILTER-NPT/dp/B000WZYKAE)

505516

I don’t think it comes with replacement filters. They are extra 😩

[Dengue]

Thanks for the links woodPixel. The $72 replacement on Amazon was for a 4 pack, postage included. i.e., $18 each.
The BC Coating was the same individual cost, but each one if purchased individually cost $22 postage . They use Sendle for shipping.
The cost of 4 units from BC coating was $88 ( incl GST) according to their website checkout, and the shipping cost is still $22, total $110.
So the Amazon 4 pack looks good at $72.