PORTABLE AIR COMPRESSORS

The portable air compressors sold at big box hardware stores like Lowe s and Home Depot are perfectly suited
for he jobs they re advertised for: namely throwing some nails into the wall or filling tires. But if you try to
respray yo r car with that $50 Black Friday pancake air compressor, you re going to have a bad day. The relatively
small amo nt of air they hold is almost guaranteed to be contaminated with oil and moisture, making it unsuitable
for painting o even just blowing the dust out of electronics.

But all is not lost. [Stephen Saville] has done an excellent job documenting his work to turn these low cost homeow
er-grade air compressors into something suitable for spraying auto body panels. But even if you aren t looking to
p t a sick pearlescent finish on the family minivan, these tips are worth checking out. From increasing the usable
volu e of air in the system to separating out contaminants, these modifications can unlock a whole new world of
pneumati
projects. Home Depot Air Compressor

The big one (literally and figuratively) is the swirl tube [Stephen] builds out of an old CO2 cylinder. The idea is that
his will centrifugally clean the air, not unlike a cyclonic dust separator. As the air enters the top of the cylinder and s
ins around, contact with the cold metal will cause any moisture to condense out and collect down at the bottom. Oil
nd other particles in the air should also get spun out, leaving a central column of cleaner air. The collected water and
contaminants at the bottom can be occasionally purged out by way of the cylinder s original valve.

With a source of clean and dry air sorted, [Stephen] next wanted a way to get it around his shop. Using scrap metal p
pes he puts together a system that not only gives him air where he needs it, but also increases the volume of compres
ed air he has available. By using large smooth metal pipes rather than something like flexible rubber hose, the
plumb ng puts very little resistance on air flow. The pipes therefore can be considered something of an extension of
the co pressor s primary tank.

In the video after the break, [Stephen] shows off his new air system by laying down a very nice looking coat of paint
on a car hood, but he also goes through the whole build process if you want to see the nuts and bolts of his system. e
gives some great tips on welding and working with dissimilar metals which are worth the price of admission alone.

Outfitting the workshop with an integrated compressed air system sounds like the perfect second project to tackle on
e you ve got the built-in dust collection system up and running.