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Hi,
A little while back, I bought a sandblasting cabinet from Tip Tools in
Canfield Ohio. It is a nice bit of "kit" as those across the pond might say.
The only problem is, my compressor is barely adequate. I have a Crafstman
single stage 5.5 hp vertical compressor with a 25 gal tank. Although it
maintains more than adequate pressure and volume for the small time stuff I
am doing, it runs all the time.
In short, I had "wet" air. The tank, and air, heats up and when there is
this abrupt pressure reduction as it leaves the nozzle, the temperature
rapidly decreases as well, releasing lots of water inside the cabinet and
directly onto my parts. This also mixes in with the media (glass bead) and
makes it "stiff", causing clogs and poor feeding. I found myself spending
more time stirring the media with a piece of old brake line and smacking the
collecting funnel to shake the stuff loose.
So after a bit of thought, during which time I experienced headaches and
dizziness, I realized that if I cooled the air a bit BEFORE it got to the
nozzle and put another water separator very close to the blaster nozzle, I
might stop much of the moisture from getting on my precious GPW bits and
pieces and mixing with the media and just wasting my time, energy and
PATIENCE.
Now, I am not claiming that I have discovered some new theorum of
thermodynamic heat transfer or gas to liquid. Plenty of enterprising
individuals have come up with commercial means of drying air. One such
product in the Tip Tools catalogue was an "Air Dryer" for about $700. WAY
too expensive for me and my needs. This air dryer as some of you know is
simply a refrigeration unit that cools the air prior to reaching your tools.
I thought, I'll bet a nice length of copper tubing, readily available at
your local hardware store, in 1/4" in about a 25 ft length would not only
hold the pressure, but provide a nice heat transfer surface. This stuff come
in coils for about $12.00 and I didn't even unwind mine. For about $4.00, I
found compression fittings that would seal the hose and supply me with
conveniently sized threaded outlets to attach air hoses too. Fill up a
bucket with cold water and put my slightly stretched out coil in it and
PRESTO! a functional if not particularly elegant air dryer. I hooked my
water separator after the coil and boy does it ever fill up with water fast.
Now I can get alot more production from my cabinet and it didn't cost me
more than $20.00.
Of course, if you are doing this stuff commercially, you probably already
have a nice cool dry source of air. I am just a guy trying to do the most
with the least amount of money possible. My needs are not commercial grade,
so this half-assed set up appears to be more than adequate for my needs, and
I am assuming some of yours as well.
I hope somebody can use this idea.
Regards,
Bob Kelly
'42 GPW
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