I was wondering what you guys thought about "building" a compressor from Northern tools. I was planning to build it and use my plastic lines for a tank. Using 6" line as a trunk line from my compressor and motor that I was going to piece together from the catalog. It seems soooo much cheaper to do this, and I can put it in the rafters. I am waiting to get an education. Thanks

 

Buy a compressor. You are going to take a beating with that idea here Steve.

 

Check out the FAQ sticky at the top of this forum re plastic pipe.

 

Buy a compressor. You can get one cheap at Pep Boys, Home Depot, Harbor Freight etc. And do not use plastic pipe.

 

Putting the air lines in the rafters will only aid in keeping the air hot and the moisture level high. The smaller supply lines made from copper or iron serve a dual purpose, not only by adding strength, eliminating the potential problem of shattering PVC, but also in cooling (to some degree) the air before it gets to your paint gun, etc., which when plumbed with a trap, keeps it out of your tools.

 

The search is giving me problems, that is why I posted the question. I searched for pie, plastic pie, compressors, plumbing,... and I get no matches. I did a search for "trucks", using "contains any word or phrase" and got how to remove cookies from my computer. ??????

 

not pie, it was pipe. Sorry.

 

Wow. Did a search for pie and got articles on cookies. Now that's an intuitive search engine.

Sorry, that one piqued my sense of humor. I'll shut up now.

Cheers,
Eric

 

Try "compressor plumbing (or piping) for dry air" in your search engine. I got a teriffic illustration on Pirate 4x4, but the forum will not let me post the web site.

 

Here's what I've always done for dry air. If your compressor is running a high or continuous duty cycle, you're going to be getting very hot air which holds a lot of moisture. In anything that uses the air, especially a paint gun, the moisture will condense out RIGHT at the expansion (in the gun nozzle) of air, which is the worst possible place. So put a long hose on the compressor, and set up a cheap cooler near where you're using the air and put a coil of 3/8" copper pipe (I have one with quick disconnects on both ends) in the cooler and throw in a few bags of ice. Then connect your filter/water separator after the coil and you'll find it cleans most of the moisture right out.

 

Steveheavy, try what I told you, look at the sticky at the top of this forum for information re plastic pipe. The searching has all been done for you.

 

There are several guys on welding web that were making condensing units to go between the comp and the tank. I think there were even some drawings.

 

Mine is a long (25 foot) run of galvanized iron pie, slightly sloping down, water traps at each end and 15 feet or so of copper line coiled down then water trap. Very dry air for my Plasma. I'd post picture, but can't figure how.

 

I started constructing my air lines for my two car garage, and I'll share what I've done so far in case it helps anyone.

I have a two car garage, with the standard 3' wide column between the two garage doors. Hanging from the ceiling, about a foot down on hangers, is schedule 40 black pipe. This goes from the front of the garage to the back, between the garage bays. On the back end, I simply installed a threaded cap to seal the end. On the front end, between the garage doors, I capped that as well, however I bored a 1" hole in the side of the 1.25" ID schedule 40, and aimed that hole down. Over that 1" hole, I've fishmouthed and welded another 1.25" ID schedule 40 pipe, which is vertical, almost reaching the floor (about a foot off the floor actually).

The compressor, which is between the garage bays also, feeds that vertical pipe somewhere in the middle, and across the overhead horizontal pipe are threaded holes with quick disconnects in. Not that I use more than one tool at a time, but having an air grinder hooked up and a drill on another hose is convienent. Switch tools, keep working.

Because the compressor feeds the middle of the vertical pipe, any water from the compressor drops to the bottom, which has a threaded cap with a threaded hole, and a plug. Every so often I'll just undo that cap, drain the water, and I'm good to go.

Basically the vertical is a 6' section of black pipe, and the horizontal overhead piece is 20 feet I believe. Was simple to do, the big hole was done with a holesaw, and the smaller holes were ordinary drilled holes then tapped. Nothing fancy, had the black pipe, much better than plastic.

 

http://www.hotrodders.com/t31710-15-2.html
http://sharpe1.com/dr-pipe.htm