So I purchased a compressor about a month ago, finally got around to actually using it yesterday. When I first received it, I took it apart and cleaned it up, de-burred a few items, put it back together and didn't have a tank to fill so it sat around. I went shooting two weeks ago and attempted to use it, I found I had an air leak in the fill hose. UGH. Used my buddies CmdCtrl tank for fills and kept shooting.
Took the compressor down to www.Airtanksforsale.com in Huntington Beach, Ca. Joe replaced the whip with one of his really nice ones and replaced a compression washer and ran a dead head test up to 4,000 PSI. (Thanks Joe, if your reading this).
I ordered an Air Filter (Tuxing Gold), came in last week, some Male-Male fittings and the small Carbon Bottle from AoA ( $300.00 on sale, I don't want to lug thousands of pounds around with me to shoot). So put everything together yesterday, almost. The Forster fitting each had to spend some quality time on my lathe so they would fit in the female fitting. See size does matter.
With that all done, I filled up the Home Depot bucket with some ice and water, plugged in the pump and away we go, almost. Seems to be a good practice to always have wrenches near when first setting up systems for those random air leaks. So I made from ZERO it to 2,000 PSI in the bottle, a few moisture purges, and turned off the pump twice to cool down (55º C back down to 18º C). Wasn't getting much higher and the time was dragging. So I started checking the fittings, bottom of the Tuxing needed some attention, the bleed valves needed to be tightened, etc. etc.
From 2,000 PSI up to 4,400 PSI before I shut her off. Temps seemed to climb pretty quickly.
So what did I learn - Keep all your fittings tight, any small air leak will increase the time it takes to fill. Check your filters after filling and replace (the one right at the compressor that came with the unit had some water and oil accumulated in it.) Be safe, I'll have to make a carriage to have all the parts together, I'd also like to get some shorter hoses to connect the pieces, no sense filling up a hose that will just get emptied.
The tank had 4,400 PSI on it's gauge when I finished and was warm but not hot, I'll check the temp of the tank next time. Once it had cooled down to ambient, I dead headed the hose and check the pressure - 4,000 PSI. So I think we'll be filling slower next time to get a good fill, when I worked in a Dive Shop the tanks would be in water, keeps them cooler and if they let go, a small measure of safety. Maybe some cooling blankets around it next time.
If someone has a plan that can improve what I'm doing, I'm all ears.
Smitty
Took the compressor down to www.Airtanksforsale.com in Huntington Beach, Ca. Joe replaced the whip with one of his really nice ones and replaced a compression washer and ran a dead head test up to 4,000 PSI. (Thanks Joe, if your reading this).
I ordered an Air Filter (Tuxing Gold), came in last week, some Male-Male fittings and the small Carbon Bottle from AoA ( $300.00 on sale, I don't want to lug thousands of pounds around with me to shoot). So put everything together yesterday, almost. The Forster fitting each had to spend some quality time on my lathe so they would fit in the female fitting. See size does matter.
With that all done, I filled up the Home Depot bucket with some ice and water, plugged in the pump and away we go, almost. Seems to be a good practice to always have wrenches near when first setting up systems for those random air leaks. So I made from ZERO it to 2,000 PSI in the bottle, a few moisture purges, and turned off the pump twice to cool down (55º C back down to 18º C). Wasn't getting much higher and the time was dragging. So I started checking the fittings, bottom of the Tuxing needed some attention, the bleed valves needed to be tightened, etc. etc.
From 2,000 PSI up to 4,400 PSI before I shut her off. Temps seemed to climb pretty quickly.
So what did I learn - Keep all your fittings tight, any small air leak will increase the time it takes to fill. Check your filters after filling and replace (the one right at the compressor that came with the unit had some water and oil accumulated in it.) Be safe, I'll have to make a carriage to have all the parts together, I'd also like to get some shorter hoses to connect the pieces, no sense filling up a hose that will just get emptied.
The tank had 4,400 PSI on it's gauge when I finished and was warm but not hot, I'll check the temp of the tank next time. Once it had cooled down to ambient, I dead headed the hose and check the pressure - 4,000 PSI. So I think we'll be filling slower next time to get a good fill, when I worked in a Dive Shop the tanks would be in water, keeps them cooler and if they let go, a small measure of safety. Maybe some cooling blankets around it next time.
If someone has a plan that can improve what I'm doing, I'm all ears.
Smitty
