Drying air for plasma?

[AdrianH]

I have seen threads on here where people have made radiators for air lines etc, I guess mostly for painting, but may be wrong.

Has anyone used desiccant or Silica Gel in the ball shape to pass air through. I have 2 K of the stuff and will try to find some form of canister to hold the stuff in then have the air pass through it, hope to not restrict the flow to much.
has anyone tried/used this method. Would like to make a canister myself rather then pay the hundreds of pounds i have seen them at.

Any ideas before I dive in and make a mess?

Adrian

 

[normspanners]

I have a load of 22mm copper end feed tees if you decide to solder one up

 

[mike 109444]

One of our competitors (Boo Hiss ) use a similar system to what you are thinking of. If you look at the link and the second pic in on top line, you will see a tube about 2" dia by 3ft tall in right hand side by door hinge. This is a decandesant (spelling?) There is a note on the machines to say that it should be replaced every 6 months. I don't know what material is in the tubes and don't know when I might bump into one of there engineers to find out But will see what I can find out.
Note our machines use a compressor that supplies dry air (a Junair one) or the hospital has to supply medical grade air to the cabinet.
Think you may need to check/avoid blowing the powder into the supply air (post dryer filtering ?)
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=p...4TbmNzJAhXIPBQKHSD2BewQ_AUIBygC&dpr=1#imgrc=_

 

[optima21]

I did a dessicant dryer in this thread

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/diy-air-drying-system.50298/page-2#post-570063

I've now got a filter housing rated at 150psi pressure now

 

[AdrianH]

I am thinking of the same idea as optima there, I have a uphill hose from the compressor to a small separator/filter at the top of the rise then there is another one at the back of the plasma cutter, the first one collects quite a bit of water, the second gets a little over continuous use, so my thinking was to use the Silica gel, the stuff I have 2.2KG is brown and changes colour when damp, was thinking along the lines of a small disposable cylinder and Tig welding two air fittings on it, one that has the same idea pipe down to the base that feeds air through the silica up to the top air fitting and then to the filter back of the plasma, this hopefully will sort out any bits that may pass through, but using the slit idea as in that thread should mean very little should go through. I will have a look at what other tube I have as it turns out i have no disposables left over.

I like the glass idea, if I can find something suitable, but a tube would be OK and I inspect it regular..

At least the idea has been used and with some success so I can play and see what happens, what thickness thin wall can I use for approx 50mm dia tube, anyone have a clue, could I use ERW, I may have some aluminium around, but not sure about TIG skills yet.

Adrian

 

[Mr shiney]

I use a drop out air filter. Produces perfect clean dry air. It's installed on the outlet of the air bank. I have the little separating regulators at all of the outlets and never see a drop of anything in those as the drop out does all the work.

 

[Kent]

You might utilise a defunct uv water filter housing mine is designed for pressure and it would make a quick job
Try googling a few companies who do spring and bore hole supplies I bet they just bin faulty ones

 

[Gareth0123]

I have 2.2KG is brown and changes colour when damp, was thinking along the lines of a small disposable cylinder and Tig welding two air fittings on it
I like the glass idea, if I can find something suitable, but a tube would be OK and I inspect it regular..Adrian

For my plasma cutter I bought two additional water traps from AIM Tools The QSL 10 3/8 model and the QSL40 1 & 1/4 model.

Both are attached to a plate I've fixed on my compressor. The QSL10 picks up on the compressors outlet with QSL40 attached to it by an adaptor. I removed the innards of the much larger QSL40 water trap and have replaced them with colour changing silica gel. This system works a treat for me, my plasma consumables last a long time, its never missed a beat when cutting, the clear "jar" of the water trap allows me to see the changes in the silica gel, and maintenance is an absolute doddle; just unscrew the jar and microwave the gel. I've done it once in 12 months, so this is a very efficient and cost effective system

 

[tinman123]

I have seen threads on here where people have made radiators for air lines etc, I guess mostly for painting, but may be wrong.

Has anyone used desiccant or Silica Gel in the ball shape to pass air through. I have 2 K of the stuff and will try to find some form of canister to hold the stuff in then have the air pass through it, hope to not restrict the flow to much.
has anyone tried/used this method. Would like to make a canister myself rather then pay the hundreds of pounds i have seen them at.

Any ideas before I dive in and make a mess?

Adrian

i installed a new air system here, or at least im extending to it every so often.
i have a norgren filter on it at the moment that traps the moisture and in fairness to it its leaving dry air.
but im sure there is still a tad too much moisture in it for the plasma but even so holding the blow gun on a plate of steel produces no moisture so its not too bad for now.
there is a water trap on the back of the plasma but in 2 yrs ive only seen about 4mm of water in it.

i bought some desiccant and rather than making up something i opted for the easier route first so i bought one of those rigid looking plastic water filters off e bay to see if it would work.
i searched til i found one with two o rings for a better seal.
it also came with an insert that you could fill up with whatever you wanted in it.
i dint get to mess much with it since but i did try 120psi of air in it and it was struggling to make a seal, its lying on a shelf since, ill get back to it again but id doubt it ill work tbh.
best to make up something out of pipe, its as good a way as it gets for drying the air.

i looked before at the radiator type systems but the jury was out a bit on it iirc, the desiccant is a better plan imo.

 

[123hotchef]

For my plasma cutter I bought two additional water traps from AIM Tools The QSL 10 3/8 model and the QSL40 1 & 1/4 model.

Both are attached to a plate I've fixed on my compressor. The QSL10 picks up on the compressors outlet with QSL40 attached to it by an adaptor. I removed the innards of the much larger QSL40 water trap and have replaced them with colour changing silica gel. This system works a treat for me, my plasma consumables last a long time, its never missed a beat when cutting, the clear "jar" of the water trap allows me to see the changes in the silica gel, and maintenance is an absolute doddle; just unscrew the jar and microwave the gel. I've done it once in 12 months, so this is a very efficient and cost effective system

don't the silicate blow through the pipe work? or did you leave the baffles on

 

[anjum]

Buy a cheap but big filter/ filter regulator (used) and fill that with the desiccant. I am doing the same to make a carbon filter prior to the titchy one on the air fed mask.

 

[Woody.v8]

@AdrianH I may sell my regenerating desiccant dryer, I,ve got a bigger refrigerant dryer now

 

[anjum]

Nice!!

 

[AdrianH]

@AdrianH I,ve got a bigger refrigerant dryer now

Show off

Adrian

 

[tinman123]

@AdrianH I may sell my regenerating desiccant dryer, I,ve got a bigger refrigerant dryer now
View attachment 78089

ooh, ive never seen one of them in that style.
its a fancy machine going on a google, and new its a fancy price too...
any harm to ask what do you use it for/on , plasma probably or dry air for spraying maybe?
om a bit jealous right now...

 

[Woody.v8]

ooh, ive never seen one of them in that style.
its a fancy machine going on a google, and new its a fancy price too...
any harm to ask what do you use it for/on , plasma probably or dry air for spraying maybe?
om a bit jealous right now...

A bit of all of the above really and a bit of blasting,If i must be honest i have never used it as it was never big enough at 30 odd CFM.

 

[tinman123]

A bit of all of the above really and a bit of blasting,If i must be honest i have never used it as it was never big enough at 30 odd CFM.

30cfm would limit some of them jobs alright.
its a fine unit i must say.

 

[Gareth0123]

don't the silicate blow through the pipe work? or did you leave the baffles on

I sort of cheated and used a muslin drawstring bag that 'er-indoors made for me.
It never even occurred to me about silica bits blowing about and up the pipework. I bagged it up before putting into the sight glass because I am notorious at spilling things.

 

[123hotchef]

I sort of cheated and used a muslin drawstring bag that 'er-indoors made for me.
It never even occurred to me about silica bits blowing about and up the pipework. I bagged it up before putting into the sight glass because I am notorious at spilling things.

I dont think it will if u leave the filter part in it I just made my one today also got some old copper I am going to make a colum do dah on the wall with some drops and drains like someone did on here