Alpha-Carette compressor is here
- Thread starter Valkyrie0002
- Start date
The tank I used is a heavy all aluminum one, normally used as an overflow coolant tank on a car. I bought it on ebay for $60.00 delivered.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/aluminum-Overflow-Coolant-tank-Reservoir-Cooling-Radiator-water-500ML-catch-/172660715694?hash=item28336170ae:g
-kAAOSw42JZC~yL&vxp=mtr .
I changed out the upper and lower hose fittings with a couple of ones I bought at Lowes so the same size hose could be used as those that come on the Carette. A small white plastic tank with the right size hose fittings would work just as well, or one made out of pvc pipe.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/aluminum-Overflow-Coolant-tank-Reservoir-Cooling-Radiator-water-500ML-catch-/172660715694?hash=item28336170ae:g
-kAAOSw42JZC~yL&vxp=mtr .I changed out the upper and lower hose fittings with a couple of ones I bought at Lowes so the same size hose could be used as those that come on the Carette. A small white plastic tank with the right size hose fittings would work just as well, or one made out of pvc pipe.
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Thanks very much for the setup recommendation! Can you provide a link and/or description of the reservoir that you added? Nevermind, I see you already did!
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I THINK IM BUYING ONE FROM JOE NEXT MONTH, !ALSO, IM GETTING THE GREAT WHITE!!! WHAT COMES IN THE BOX WITH THE COMPRESSOR? PICS? I THINK THE PMV and autodrain for $1399 + shipping. IS A GREAT DEAL ILL MAKE SURE TO TELL HIM ABOUT US, HERE AT THE FORUM! ILL REPORT LATER ON HOW IT WENT.
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Kudos to Azccj for his overflow catch can mod. A squeeze bottle removes most bubbles but being anal retentive I want no air in the cooling system. I made an economical overflow bottle that cost a total of $8 in parts. The clear tubing on a Carette is 3/16" ID x 5/16"OD. I bought 10' of tubing, two 90 degree nylon hose barb connectors, and a quart sized plastic storage container from the kitchen utensil section at Walmart. I drilled two half inch holes in the sides of the container, epoxied the hose barbs in place from the inside and attached 3/16" tubing to the 1/4" output barb by heating it with a hair dryer to fit. Coolant flows from the low pressure piston to the high side of the container and exits the bottom of the container. Gravity takes any air to the top of the container. Within a very short time all air is gone from the circulating coolant The container makes it easy to do a coolant change quickly and without a mess. No more squirt bottles or hypodermic injectors needed.
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Latest I read from JB is that the factory is recommending NOT filling the gauge with glycerin
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FEW THINGS ARE HOLDING ME FROM CALLING JOE, ARE... IF I NEED A PART OR MAINTENANCE ON THIS UNIT, HOW IS IT DONE? COULD JOE MAKE A VIDEO ON HOW TO FIX IT? WHAT PARTS WILL NEED MAINTENANCE FIRST? DOES HE CARRIES THEM? CAN WE BUY THEM IN ADVANCE? HOW MUCH THEY COST? THINGS LIKE THAT... I DON'T WANT TO BUY IT AND USE IT FOR PAPER WEIGHT LATER ON. JUST WISH MORE INFO ON THIS PRODUCT. THANKS GUYS.
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Ok, i came here to learn more about the unit and now have become [totally] lost. Why cant a compressor package just be clear on what you get? Do I need a filter if it auto drains? Or does it? I have to tilt it to get air out a line?
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The auto drain has nothing to do with filtering moisture from the output air. The auto drain automatically drains the condensate collector. Compressing the air squeezes a lot of moisture out of the air. The filter on the output line helps reduce the moisture content of the air you put into your tank and guns. Tipping the unit to get air out of the coolant lines is just part of the initial setup process. The compressor ships dry, you put the oil and coolant in it. Like the heater loop in your car, if there is air in the lines it will not transfer heat well. We don't want air in the coolant lines.
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That is an interesting point. Where did the included post water filter go? It might not be as good as the alpha but its not worthless either, it might work ok.
Having to get the alpha drives up the total cost to around $1800.
And do you know exactly what the auto bleed consists of? Sounds like a nice feature to have and is not part of the base model correct?
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Well it is not all that clear if you visit the site selling them. I agree that there should be information for purchasers. Many of the people that buy them already have very good handle on how compressors work. Sometimes the new guy is left in the dark because they might assume "Everyone" knows what they know and leave out seemingly simple things.
The goal for the compressor is to fill your air tank to 4500 psi without ANY moisture in the air. So along the way that water needs to be removed. A lot of it can be bleed off into a pan before the actual water filter.
Air comes in gets compressed and water in the air gets squeezed out like a wet sponge. That water would overwhelm a filter so you can open a bleed valve every 15 minutes to get most of it. Then that compressed air hits the big filter which dries out the rest of the air before it enters the tank. That auto feature is nice because most people don't want to baby sit the compressor while its running and open a bleed valve manually. I am not sure how long that filter lasts, how often it needs new media etc. Its a cost that should be known up front to any would be buyer.
These compressors should come with a post filter as standard not an add on. Doing that just promotes people to get cheap and then get water in their tanks then the guns then ruined gun down the road.
A set up from start to finish video would be nice explaining how it all works and why you need to do certain things.
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Thanks, yes that is a better video than the first one. I think that post filter ($400.00) is probably a good idea on ANY compressor. So many cheap ones lack a high pressure filter and using only input low pressure filters.
But The video does not answer a few questions. Costs to upkeep.
- $1840 - Compressor + autobleed + Filter + shipping.
Extras not mentioned.
- Cost of the oil. Its special compressor oil not moto oil.
- Cost of filter media cartridges.
- Can the filter media be rejuvinated in an oven or do you toss out the entire plastic cartridge and buy new?
- How long does an average filter catridge last? 5 fills? 10 fills? At some point the filter is going to fail and how do you know when its failed?
Since you can't see the beads (some change color when they are expired) it seems that you will get water in the tank at some point and not know it.
- Parts?
- Rebuild needed when?
Can anyone here answer these questions?
But The video does not answer a few questions. Costs to upkeep.
- $1840 - Compressor + autobleed + Filter + shipping.
Extras not mentioned.
- Cost of the oil. Its special compressor oil not moto oil.
- Cost of filter media cartridges.
- Can the filter media be rejuvinated in an oven or do you toss out the entire plastic cartridge and buy new?
- How long does an average filter catridge last? 5 fills? 10 fills? At some point the filter is going to fail and how do you know when its failed?
Since you can't see the beads (some change color when they are expired) it seems that you will get water in the tank at some point and not know it.
- Parts?
- Rebuild needed when?
Can anyone here answer these questions?
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I can answer some of your questions.
I believe the oil is a special oil. The compressor comes with a bottle of oil that you use to fill the crankcase. How much it costs I can't say as I haven't bought any yet.
The Alpha filter cartridges cost $39.00 from Joe B. I know because I bought 2 of them a couple of weeks ago. The original cartridge that came with the Alpha filter was black plastic so I can't say what was in it without tearing it apart. The ones I recently received are clear and contain both active charcoal and molecular sieve beads. Also visible is a blue strip of humidity paper. I would guess when the paper turns from blue to pink it's time to change the cartridge which is disposable and not meant to be reusable. How long the cartridge will last, I can't say yet.
But before spending $400.00 on the Alpha filter I would suggest you read this thread, http://www.airgunnation.com/topic/high-side-chinese-filter-dryer-hack/ . For less than $70.00 delivered it is a cheaper and slightly larger alternative to the Joe B Alpha filter. Add a few fittings, a bleed valve, and make a refillable filter cartridge out of 1" clear schedule 40 pvc pipe, and you'll save yourself a bunch of money on both the filter body and filter cartridges. A pressure maintaining valve, like what is included on the Alpha filter, isn't necessary if you're topping off a tank that is already pressurized at 2000+ psi. Now if the tank was empty or near empty a PMV would be useful to get more water out of the compressor air before it gets to the air tank.
Parts? Hopefully Joe B carries parts otherwise you'll be dealing with Chinese manufacturer. And just so you know there is no parts schematic included in very simple manual that comes with the Carette.
When a rebuild might be required? That is a very good question that I don't think anyone can answer right now because as far as I know, no one has enough hours on a Carette to know what might fail. But time should answer this question.
I believe the oil is a special oil. The compressor comes with a bottle of oil that you use to fill the crankcase. How much it costs I can't say as I haven't bought any yet.
The Alpha filter cartridges cost $39.00 from Joe B. I know because I bought 2 of them a couple of weeks ago. The original cartridge that came with the Alpha filter was black plastic so I can't say what was in it without tearing it apart. The ones I recently received are clear and contain both active charcoal and molecular sieve beads. Also visible is a blue strip of humidity paper. I would guess when the paper turns from blue to pink it's time to change the cartridge which is disposable and not meant to be reusable. How long the cartridge will last, I can't say yet.
But before spending $400.00 on the Alpha filter I would suggest you read this thread, http://www.airgunnation.com/topic/high-side-chinese-filter-dryer-hack/ . For less than $70.00 delivered it is a cheaper and slightly larger alternative to the Joe B Alpha filter. Add a few fittings, a bleed valve, and make a refillable filter cartridge out of 1" clear schedule 40 pvc pipe, and you'll save yourself a bunch of money on both the filter body and filter cartridges. A pressure maintaining valve, like what is included on the Alpha filter, isn't necessary if you're topping off a tank that is already pressurized at 2000+ psi. Now if the tank was empty or near empty a PMV would be useful to get more water out of the compressor air before it gets to the air tank.
Parts? Hopefully Joe B carries parts otherwise you'll be dealing with Chinese manufacturer. And just so you know there is no parts schematic included in very simple manual that comes with the Carette.
When a rebuild might be required? That is a very good question that I don't think anyone can answer right now because as far as I know, no one has enough hours on a Carette to know what might fail. But time should answer this question.
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Any chance you can make a quick video on your tank setup?? Mine will will here next week would love to that mod.
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I like the fluid container you used above. Where did you get the parts to build it? I would like to do the same thing. Thanks for the good ideas.
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I was looking at the black fluid container in the picture by azccj, not the one by Humdinger. He has already described the parts.
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So I have 2 fills now with my carette, no issues so far, operates smoothly and is not loud at all, I set the auto drain at 10 minutes with a 2 second drain time, no noted moisture at the air bleed on the bottom of the final filter before the air tank, so seems like a very well built and laid out compressor.
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Azccj, I ordered the 25.00 single nipple aluminum catch can, I'll drill and add another fitting, I liked the looks of that one you have but I just cheaped out, now I can buy more pellets!, hah.
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