mornin` vaughn,
i`d stick with 3/4" pipe for as much as possible, where you need a regulator is at the tank, put a ball valve there too! i like to use a short section of flexable hose to isolate the compressors from the pipe....black pipe being ridgid and compressors shaking..
be sure to use "female" disconects in your piping not "male" nipples
what pump are you looking at?
Thanks, Tod. I'll plan on reducing from the 3/4" at the quick-connects. I'm going to have flex hose from the tank to the black pipe in the wall, and another piece from the ceiling to the air station by the lathe. (The valves and such for that will be mounted on the side of a cabinet that's in the middle of the room, so I'll be dropping from the ceiling to the cabinet with another flexible connection. (The cabinet's on wheels. It doesn't get moved much, but I don't want to use a rigid connection between the ceiling and the cabinet.)
Here's a sketch of what I have in mind:
The little blips on the line are ball valves. And based on what you're recommending, it sounds like I should move the big regulator from where it is now (after the drying rack) to right after the ball valve on the tank. (I had thought it made sense to run it through the rack to remove some of the moisture before running it through the regulator/filter.)
For now, I'm planning on one outlet by the door (for sweeping off the back porch) and two outlets on the cabinet. (Actually, on a piece of ply or OSB mounted to the side of the cabinet.)
To answer your question about what I'm looking at...
I looked at everything from Harbor Freight to Ingersoll-Rand to Quincy. I compared specs, warranties, opinions, and anything else I could dig up. After a lot of studying, I ended up pulling the trigger today on a 5hp single-stage twin cylinder from Eaton. It’s basically
this one on a 60 gallon vertical tank. In purple, of course.
My two biggest criteria were 15+ honest CFM at 90psi and
quiet operation. I could get that kind of airflow out of a lot of different compressors, but no others I found run in the low 70s on the decibel scale. This one is real well spoken of on the auto repair forums. It’ll put out more than enough air without breaking a sweat, and it’s a good 10db quieter than the other comparable compressors, single or dual stage. Should be more than ample for running my little Grex ROS. And anything else I can come up with in the future.
It’s made from imported parts, but from everything I’ve read, they’re good, seriously overbuilt machines, and the 5-year warranty covers everything from the pump to the motor to the ball valves to the electrical switches. (Every other machine in my shop is of the Tai-Chi variety, so this one should feel right at home.)
I figure you and Larry will have my hide for not getting a Quincy, but the noise was a big issue, and I've not read any bad opinions of the Eaton stuff. There’s one guy in particular on the forums over at hotrodders.com who spent over 30 years as a compressor mechanic, working on everything from little homeowner machines to the big industrial stuff. His favorite is also Quincy, but he speaks VERY highly of the Eaton compressors. I doubt my relatively light use will work this one very hard at all, and it should last longer than me. I guess time will tell. Between now and when it gets here, I need to run some power and air lines. And make room to put the dang thing. My garage is getting hard to move around in.
Thanks much for the help, and I'll surely have more questions as I go along.