Desiccant Air Dryer for CNC Plasma Cutter

[awemawson]

I made a desiccant air dryer using Silica Gel for my CNC plasma table and thought folks here might be interested - thread describing it is here:

http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,11936.0.html

 

[Shox Dr]

How do you monitor the saturation level in the silica

 

[optima21]

I made a similar dryer for my compressor (just trying it for fit here)

the first filter holder I used was only rated to about 70psi, but the one in that photo has a working pressure of 150psi.

when the crystals absorb moisture they turn blue on mine. mine goes blue from the top down so you can see when they need to be dried. this is when I first used mine and the crystals were shaken up to show the difference in colour

 

[awemawson]

Yes mine are the indicating type. If you follow the link I gave you will see I did a crude test that they do actually change colour

 

[Shox Dr]

I'd forgotten about indicating stuff.

I used to have a friendly chemist who would save the little containers that came in drugs, they changed colour. But most of mine doesnt.... it came in cloth bags hung in a crate protecting a large tool grinder, I ended up with about 10kgs of it


How long before you need to regen' it. I've always put in the oven after we've had a roast