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J.B. Welding
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Hi,
You can use precharged cylinders for air but they dont last forever! If you know the pressure and volume of the cylinder you can work out how long it will last, or just cut till it runs out..regulate the pressure to your machines requirments. The air will be dry and clean but is it not expensive air for the job?
You can use precharged cylinders for air but they dont last forever! If you know the pressure and volume of the cylinder you can work out how long it will last, or just cut till it runs out..regulate the pressure to your machines requirments. The air will be dry and clean but is it not expensive air for the job?
Jan
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I don't know how much a dive cylinder refill costs where you live (or where I live as I haven't needed to refill mine for too long to mention) or how much cutting you want to do, but you can easily work out the cost of refills vs a cheap(ish) compressor. With those numbers in mind + inflation 
for the refills it's hardly higher maths to work out how long before you've recovered the cost of a compressor. Don't forget that there are hosts of air powered tools out there that you will soon 'need' for jobs that you hadn't previously considered. Since buying my compressor several years ago I've built up a good range of such tools such as
Spray gun
Underseal gun
Sand blaster
Air wrench
Air hammer
Impact wrench
Impact sockets
Air nailer
Air drill
Air brad nailer
and so on ...
The compressor was second hand and has only needed a 'starter' capacitor to keep it running. All the tools were bought new and the whole kit & kaboodle still stands me at less then £200! As an inveterate 'fiddler' I recently retasked the underseal gun to act as a hot water pressure washer. All I needed to do was add a metre length of garden hose to the pick up pipe, drop the free end into a bucket of hot, soapy water and I could jet wash the worst of the oil and filth from the bottom of my old Perkins diesel engine. Simples!
for the refills it's hardly higher maths to work out how long before you've recovered the cost of a compressor. Don't forget that there are hosts of air powered tools out there that you will soon 'need' for jobs that you hadn't previously considered. Since buying my compressor several years ago I've built up a good range of such tools such asSpray gun
Underseal gun
Sand blaster
Air wrench
Air hammer
Impact wrench
Impact sockets
Air nailer
Air drill
Air brad nailer
and so on ...
The compressor was second hand and has only needed a 'starter' capacitor to keep it running. All the tools were bought new and the whole kit & kaboodle still stands me at less then £200! As an inveterate 'fiddler' I recently retasked the underseal gun to act as a hot water pressure washer. All I needed to do was add a metre length of garden hose to the pick up pipe, drop the free end into a bucket of hot, soapy water and I could jet wash the worst of the oil and filth from the bottom of my old Perkins diesel engine. Simples!
J.B. Welding
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- Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Air or nitrogen is what is specified-and nitrogen makes a much sweeter job, but the dryness of bottled air will make a posetive difference to the plasma cut, and nozzels will last longer too. Not got a scooby about using helium I'm afraid, however it is inert.............
norlander
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good points from Jan on the air tools, same here, other bonus is that you can several tools around but only one lead, plus, like today, when it started raining I could just carry on no worries (yes-know about circuit breakers and stuff and use them but still prefer to keep electric gadgets and water seperate)- so compressors and the tools to go with them are great.
But I found your question interesting because I sometimes think how much of a hassle it would be to load up the compressor etc if I had to do a job away-bottles would be not worth the expense for me but nevertheless it would be interesting to know how you get on if you do use your scuba bottles.
But I found your question interesting because I sometimes think how much of a hassle it would be to load up the compressor etc if I had to do a job away-bottles would be not worth the expense for me but nevertheless it would be interesting to know how you get on if you do use your scuba bottles.
J.B. Welding
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- Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
I've charged up a defunct 47kg propane bottles to 135psi with air, it lasts around 10-15 minutes with careful site plasma-ing. But I believe your J bottles will be at a few hundred bar. I'm gonna go and say 20mins cutting as a complete guess. But of course a compressor would be an asset to your workshop.
Jan
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Don't I know it ... from reports from survivors! I haven't had much experience in deep dives as my SCUBA gear needs a full overhaul if I can ever get around to it.
So far I've only got a single 232 BAR cylinder which I mostly use to repressurise the brake accumulators on my Silver Shadow (1,000psi) since I sold my PCP air rifles.
At least you're fortunate in getting free refills, but a compressor that's good to 8/9BAR is still a damn good investment. Why work for 20-30 minutes and then troll over for a refill (wasting umpteen minutes) when you can just keep working - for hours if need be?
So far I've only got a single 232 BAR cylinder which I mostly use to repressurise the brake accumulators on my Silver Shadow (1,000psi) since I sold my PCP air rifles.
At least you're fortunate in getting free refills, but a compressor that's good to 8/9BAR is still a damn good investment. Why work for 20-30 minutes and then troll over for a refill (wasting umpteen minutes) when you can just keep working - for hours if need be?
