Hi all. I got myself a crossfire pro and hypertherm 45 with machine torch. The hypertherm comes with a little air filter built in to the unit.
I’m ready to start using my setup but I need clean/dry air because i don’t want to hurt my consumables and machine. Pretty big purchases (eating Ramen noodles for the rest of my life to make up for it)
I just bought a motor guard filter and I’m still shopping for a desiccant dryer. I’m gonna start with those 2 stages and add more lines of defense when i can afford to.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good sized desiccant filter/dryer? Like 1qt or 2qt or bigger?
Or even a suggestion of simple inexpensive setup that would be a good minimum for me to start with?
I just wanted to add that don’t forget that the compressor can be your friend for getting some excess moisture out of the air by regularly draining the water out of the tank. This can be a very cheap thing of simply reminding yourself to do it. Or you can add a very inexpensive device to do it at a certain interval.
If you want more of my rambling advice, you can follow this link:
Forget the dessicant moisture trap. Just run a sub micronic Motorgard cannister filter at the point of use or on the backside of your plasma cutter at the air inlet fitting. I have 3 plasma cutters in the shop and each one has a Motorgard cannister filter on it and no moisture ever gets past it.
If you look closely you will see @toolboy Glen also runs a Motorguard filter… Allot of guys including myself, use them as the last step of the air cleaning/drying system… Glad the Motorguard has been working well for you. Everyone has different needs as related to air quality. Allot of that is driven by climate.
For instance, you may notice using allot more air when you hook your plasma up to a CNC table vs what you used cutting by hand and you may need to upgrade your system. It is pretty hard to get to the suggested air-drying standard without using a desiccant cell. If what you have is working well for you and you are happy with it, don’t change it… but it might not work for others.
Fair statement but we use a lot of air. All the tools in the shop are air operated and so is my bulk greaser I grease the farm equipment with.
You want to talk about air consumption, try a 1" square drive IR impact gun removing corroded A325 dome head plow bolts bolts on a commercial snow plow’s wear bar. I twist 90% of them off but it takes a serious impact gun to do that and serious air consumption as well.
The Hypertherm plasma I sold recently would not even come close to what the IR consumed when running flat out and why I have a second standby Sullaire Screw compressor for that ‘just in case scenario’.
Also why I have 2 150 gallon air receivers plumbed into the main air system line. The more capacity you have, the less any compressor will cycle. Bought them both at a plant auction for pennies on the dollar I might add.
I’m ‘old school’ in what I do so the entire shop is plumbed in black iron pipe with 1.5" diameter main runs and 1" diameter drops terminating in high flow QD’s with a WOG valve at the bottom of each to drain off any accumulated condensation.
Only ‘plastic’ is the oxygen barrier PEX piping that heats the floor of the shop,
While I haven’t used it remove commercial snowplow wear bars. I have used ours to remove rusted nuts on plow disc axles… that seem to get broken every time our neighbor borrows our tractor and disc whether he has permission or not…
This is certainly true… and the less your compressor cycles the less moisture you will have making it to the end of the line.
Like I said if its working for you don’t change it… it might not be the case for someone else who doesn’t have your same setup and capacity.
And 73 isn’t that old… a while back we sold some hay to a guy… said he was 68 so he would need someone to load up the hay (small bales) on his trailer for him. My dad and I were loading his trailer, and he was watching us and talking about how much hay he used to throw when he was younger and that if he weren’t 68 he would be right there with us… At that point my dad said 68… Im 75. He quit talking and started to lift a bale or two here or there. My dad worked as a consultant for the State Department into his 70s. He was working training troops in Africa and some crazy stuff was going on… I emailed him to be careful. He responded that his skills and senses were still sharp… I remined him he was 70 and his response to me was that he had killed a Black Mamba snake the night before in his closet.
Actually, I’m a commercial forage grower and I sold my New Holland 575 a couple years ago, Don’t want anything to do with small squares. I’ve always had a round bailer in the barn but last year upgraded to a new Kubota BV large round bailer, all computer driven and I have just one customer that buys all my round bales and has for years now. I never loan out any implements or tractors, ever. Have a pair of large frame Kubota M9’s and one just runs the round bailer all the time. I do it for fun actually, gets me out of the house and I’ve never lost money on hay either. Fun and making money go well together, least for me and it gets me out of the machine shop as well. I have 2 very trustworthy employees that allow me to do other ‘stuff’ as well.
I’ve got hay making down to an exact science so long as Mother Nature cooperates that is. This last season she dealt me a bad hand (got a lot rained on and had to ted it) and it wasn’t all that great so I lowered the cost per bale but still broke even.
Don’t like tedding alfalfa hay because the more you fiddle with it, the more leaf loss you get. I prefer disc mowing it with the crimp rolls set pretty tight and I run the wide swath diverters on the discbine to lay a wide windrow. Let it sit for 2 days and the rotary rake it and next day round bale it. I have a Delmhorst moisture meter in the tractor and moisture sensing shoes in the bailer pickup so I can real time monitor moisture content. My cistomer don’t want any preservative of any kind on the hay even though I have an applicator mounted on the bailer, I don’t use it. Even have a 55 gallon drum of Greensaver on the barn, just in case.
All fun most times for me. I run just under 75 acres of Vernal Alfalfa/ grass fields. 85% alfalfa.
@SidecarFlip
Hey Daryl, your air system is well well beyond what the average person have for running a plasma…the fact you have all that storage and all your pipe is large capacity it is no wonder you have decent air…
But to say forget the moisture trap is unfair advice as 90% of the people here run smaller setups and have problem with moisture and hot air…
you really can not compare your system to others as your sounds amazing…
Isn’t that the sad truth. The people that don’t own nor have they experienced the angst of shelling out money for all this equipment, BigDaddy exempted from this statement , lack the appreciation of treating it right.
(Note: I don’t think BigDaddy has any angst when he buys a new tool. But he treats them right.)
Yeah he is a young guy who’s parents sadly have both passed and my dad is to nice and he takes full advantage… We had to start taking the keys out of all our equipment… crazy thing after we did he actually asked me why we had started taking the keys out… I looked at him and said because you are looking. I tried to hire him to bale some hay to get him some money… took him 9 hrs to bale 10 acres… turns out he started on ours went to his and baled then came back after.
No matter how complex or large any system is, you will always have a condensate (moisture) issue. When you raise the temperature of air by compressing it and altering the dew point, moisture will always be present and has to be removed. Fact of operation no matter how big or small the system is and it don’t matter if the system is built with PEX piping or sweated copper pipe or threaded black pipe. In my case I wanted the added safety margin of threaded black pipe. I’m very comfortable knowing that my pipe system can withstand without fail, whatever pressure my compressors could impart to it.
As an aside, I run my system at 135 psi maximum because any and all air tools really don’t require any more pressure. Air tools (as well as plasma cutters) operate on CFM not head pressure and while I could very easily run at 175 psi, I don’t. The second reason is compressor life. The higher the head pressure any compressor makes, the more carbon builds up on the compressor head valving and the hotter the compressor runs so keeping the head pressure at 135 psi extends the working life of any compressor and I think we can all agree that compressors are expensive to replace, especially quality ones.
