My New Air Station and Compressor Mods .....

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
After seeing Vaughn's good work on his >> Air Line System << I finally got around to fixing my compressor set up.

A while back, I raised my compressor up off the ground a bit, to give me some more needed space, but this also raised all of the connections, shut-off valves, and gauges up out of sight. This was not very convenient, so I wanted to fix this.

air_station_before.jpg
This is how the compressor set up looked before I got started, OK, I'd already removed a few bit.......

extended_oil_drain.jpg
The first thing that I did was to extend out the drain for the oil from the pump, much easier to change the oil in the compressor, without having to wipe up the mess that would always drip down the side of the tank.

extended_water_drain.jpg
I also extended water drain from the bottom of the tank.
I'll put a bucket to collect the run off on the floor, that power strip on the wall next to the drain, will also be relocated.

new_air_station.jpg
Here is the "Air Station", for now, anyways, this will work.

I'll have to build a bracket or two down from the compressor to hold it in place, as it is rather unsupported right now.

One thing I want to point out, I really was not thinking when I used the PVC pipe on the water drain, if I was thinking, I would have done it all in steel pipe, but I knew I had the pipe, elbow, and valve for the PVC, so I used it. :doh:

I'll get some steel pipe next time I go out to the DIY store.

Next up, I'm going to build "Cap" over the top of the compressor to cut down on the noise.

Cheers!
 
Stu,

Looks good! :thumb: I even went out and wiped my compressor and tank down, got the sawdust off it. Vaughns thread has me motivated more to get something a bit more substantial than the little Craftsman I have.

Why not just but a shutoff valve between the steel pipe from the tank and the pvc extension pipe to drain the water? That way you will not have pressure in the PVC, but bring the water drain out with the pipe you have now.

Also, be careful blowing water out right next to that electrical strip....:eek: :doh:
 
Stu,

Looks good! :thumb: I even went out and wiped my compressor and tank down, got the sawdust off it. Vaughns thread has me motivated more to get something a bit more substantial than the little Craftsman I have.

Why not just but a shutoff valve between the steel pipe from the tank and the pvc extension pipe to drain the water? That way you will not have pressure in the PVC, but bring the water drain out with the pipe you have now.

Also, be careful blowing water out right next to that electrical strip....:eek: :doh:

The space under the compressor is usually filled up with a large box full of all the various bits and pieces of steel I have left over from welding stuff, the box is full and heavy, so moving it to crack the shutoff valve would not be easy.

The power strip will be relocated.

:wave:
 
That should prove to be worth the effort (after you replace the PVC, of course). Way to go. :thumb:

While you're at the hardware store, you might consider getting a ball valve for your oil line, too. The extension will be useful, but a valve on it will make it even more drip-free. (Reduced leakage as you remove the plug.) My new compressor has the valve, but it could use an extension tube like yours, too.

Oil Drain Valve.jpg
 
I picked 4 of these up at the bargain table at Lowes...



The black part twists and pulls out to open the valve and let the oil drain.



They even give you a short piece of clear tube to reach into a container.




Like Stu said, it sure beats dripping oil all over the tank when you are changing it. And the best part was, they were further marked down to $1.50. I love Lowes bargain table!

I added an extension for the simple water filter from parts I had on hand. I need to clean it up and get a better filter, but it works for now.



Now I need to drain the tank of air, remove the bottom valve and make a tinker toy extension with a ball valve to drain the water.
 
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