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One Step Closer!

Grabbed a few more clamps from the storage unit this evening and got them hung up. Behind the clamp rack is the air drying/cooling setup. The clamp heads are uneven because of the 3/4" pipe fittings behind them preventing some of them from seating fully in the rack, but they're still held firmly, so I can live with it.

Drying%20Rack%20and%20Clamp%20Rack%20800.jpg


Next step will be to get the overhead air line run to the center of the shop and attaching the drain line that hooks up to the collector line at the bottom of the drying rack. Then after that I need to recruit a few strong friends/relatives to help me get the compressor moved from the storage place to the shop. It weighs somewhere between 600 and 700 pounds, so I won't be moving it myself. ;)
 
Looking good! I should consider one of these, really get a lot of moisture when running the blasting cabinet. I did finally install one of the automatic drain kits and seems to work well for keeping the tank drained.

I've got about 100' of Pex left over from my water line replacement that I was considering running drops with. It's supposed to be good for up to 150# of pressure and doesn't burst like pvc. My tank shuts off at 120#, the only concern is UV light making the Pex brittle, but I've read of others painting it with interior house paint to protect it.
 
Darren Wright said:
Looking good! I should consider one of these, really get a lot of moisture when running the blasting cabinet. I did finally install one of the automatic drain kits and seems to work well for keeping the tank drained...
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It seemed to work well in my previous shop. Mine uses three one-way check valves right above the collector line at the bottom of the rack. You can get the same results with individual ball valves, but you'd have to be able to access them to drain things. (I'll probably end up with a bench in front of mine, making access difficult.) With this design you can open one valve (not yet installed in the picture) to drain all three loops at once without having to access the loops themselves. It used to catch quite a bit of water in my California shop. I expect there will be less here in NM.

Here's the schematic I made when I built it:

Air%20Drying%20Rack%20As-Built%20800.jpg
 
Gee, thanks, Vaughn! When I see your drying rack, I'm reminded that I still haven't built one for my air system. :rolleyes:

I bought some valves a few years ago, stuck them in a drawer and got busy on other things.

I'm thinking about following your layout, but using copper pipe for most of it, mainly because I have some parts left over from using copper for all my main air runs. I bought a lot of parts in bulk, so I have things like couplers and elbows as well as some short straights.

How long are your vertical pieces?

I'm planning to run the three drops straight into the horizontal run and route it through the back wall of my shop to a spring valve so it will dump outside.
 
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Bill Arnold said:
...How long are your vertical pieces?

I'm planning to run the three drops straight into the horizontal run and route it through the back wall of my shop to a spring valve so it will dump outside.
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I'll get the measurement on the vertical pieces tomorrow for you. (It's late and I'm in my PJs, so I don't feel like heading into the cold shop, lol.)

Assuming I'm understanding your description, I started out thinking along the same lines as you, with a single valve and no check valves. Then I realized that without the check valves, the air would simply bypass the loops and go down the first vertical, across the horizontal collector tube, then back up the last vertical run to the outlet. Shortest distance ans path of least resistance. ;)
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
... Assuming I'm understanding your description, I started out thinking along the same lines as you, with a single valve and no check valves. Then I realized that without the check valves, the air would simply bypass the loops and go down the first vertical, across the horizontal collector tube, then back up the last vertical run to the outlet. Shortest distance ans path of least resistance. ;)
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And that's why you get the big bucks!!!

Thanks for the reminder about least resistance. I shoulda thunk about that after a lifetime around electronics!!!

Edit: I checked my supplies and found the five (5) check valves I bought for this project. So, I guess I'm set. :rolleyes:
 
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Darren Wright said:
...I've got about 100' of Pex left over from my water line replacement that I was considering running drops with. It's supposed to be good for up to 150# of pressure and doesn't burst like pvc. My tank shuts off at 120#, the only concern is UV light making the Pex brittle, but I've read of others painting it with interior house paint to protect it.
Click to expand...

You apparently know about PVC and compressed air. I saw a shop where they put PVC inside the walls, and one morning they came in with a huge hole in the sheetrock. Fortunately they had shut the compressor down over the weekend, even though they had not released the pressure.

If I get a big compressor, I would build it with two tanks... the giant tank that usually comes with a big compressor, and a small, perhaps 5 gallon, tank. I would put a valve on the big tank, so I could run the compressor for small jobs (just a few nails, for example) without taking the time and energy to fill the big tank, but open the ball valve to incorporate the big tank when it would be useful. With this system it would be easy to depressurize the distribution lines, at which point I would worry less about PVC or PEX - everything ahead of the main cutoff would be copper.
 
Bill, the vertical sections in my setup are 4' 9". I couldn't tell you how or why I arrived at that number. I probably stored that information in the same place you stored the information about your 5 check valves, lol. I know I was trying for the most linear feet I could fit in the space I had available (within reason), but I don't think the exact lengths are critical. I do remember I was having the local (non-Borg) home improvement store doing my pipe cutting and threading, and it took me several trips over the course of a week or so to put my system together. By the end of it, the guy in the plumbing department started to regret seeing me walk in the store. :D

Bill Arnold said:
... I checked my supplies and found the five (5) check valves I bought for this project. So, I guess I'm set. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Can you imagine the projects we could all build with the parts we've bought and forgotten about? :D
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
... Can you imagine the projects we could all build with the parts we've bought and forgotten about? :D
Click to expand...

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the info on the lengths. I'll probably start with three 10' lengths of 1/2" copper and cut to 4.5'. The offcuts and some small offcuts I already have will get me started - sometime!
 
Charlie Plesums said:
You apparently know about PVC and compressed air. I saw a shop where they put PVC inside the walls, and one morning they came in with a huge hole in the sheetrock. Fortunately they had shut the compressor down over the weekend, even though they had not released the pressure.

If I get a big compressor, I would build it with two tanks... the giant tank that usually comes with a big compressor, and a small, perhaps 5 gallon, tank. I would put a valve on the big tank, so I could run the compressor for small jobs (just a few nails, for example) without taking the time and energy to fill the big tank, but open the ball valve to incorporate the big tank when it would be useful. With this system it would be easy to depressurize the distribution lines, at which point I would worry less about PVC or PEX - everything ahead of the main cutoff would be copper.
Click to expand...
Two tanks is a really good idea, I may need to try this. It's rare I need a tank full of air, mostly with the blast cabinet. I'll most likely do copper at the start and at the drops, pex between them.

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Charlie Plesums said:
... If I get a big compressor, I would build it with two tanks... the giant tank that usually comes with a big compressor, and a small, perhaps 5 gallon, tank. I would put a valve on the big tank, so I could run the compressor for small jobs (just a few nails, for example) without taking the time and energy to fill the big tank, but open the ball valve to incorporate the big tank when it would be useful. With this system it would be easy to depressurize the distribution lines, at which point I would worry less about PVC or PEX - everything ahead of the main cutoff would be copper.
Click to expand...

My simple mind just put a ball valve on the output of my big tank. Closing it shuts off the air supply to my entire piping system. Nothing fancy, but it works.
 
I have that, but having a small tank makes sense as my compressor will drain off when not used for a while, and many times I just need to top off a tire or shoot a few brads, so no need to fill an entire 100 gallon tank for that. I do have a pancake and 20 gallon compressor too, so may just need to reserve the big one for big jobs.

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