Air Dryer?

So whater y'all using for air dryers? I have a PP256 on order and trying to get my squirrels all in a row. I have an old 30gal tank mounted compressor but no desiccator yet. Is an air dryer absolutely necessary for plasma, or not so much in a dry climate?

BTW, I searched for "dryer" in the plasma forum and didn't score anything worthwhile.

Air dryers are good but not always required,,,depends on the humidity,,,length of lines,,,how often you drain your compressor,,,it would be good to have at least one water trap on a plasma unit and they usually come with one mounted on the unit...blowing your lines before connection is a good idea,,,,and ,,, it depends on how much use the unit is doing in a given day,,,constant use would seem to require a better water trap ...my pp80 has a long desicant filter that works well, my pp50 just uses the supplied filter,,,I may add a motorguard filter later but for now all works well..

Motorgaurd M30 or M60 M100 kit only difference between them is inlet/outlet size. All use the same filter...these kits come with one in the housing plus two spares http://www.tooltopia.com/motorguard-m45.aspx

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Originally Posted by Slartybartfa

So whater y'all using for air dryers?

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Cheap HF desiccant dryer after the regulator/filter, but before the gas inlet. It has 1/4" MIP/FIP fittings so you can rig it up with a quick disconnect to make it easy to pull out of the line. The filter has an internal thread, so you can disassemble it to replace the desiccant when it has expired.

http://www.harborfreight.com/inline-...ter-68215.html

Cheers
Mike

thats what i use a motorgaurd since the filters are cheep and they work good

thats a great price with 2 filters

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Originally Posted by Rodsmachineshop

thats a great price with 2 filters

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Yep, it's a total of three... one in the housing and two spares. I've done a fair amount of plasma cutting in the past four months and still on the first filter.

Thanks for the info. I'm off to spend more money. Yay! :(

They are required...if you want your consumables to last...and your torch to be good.

with 3 filters that like getting the filter holder for free at the price thanks going to by buy one for a spare .

Thanks for the tooltopia link. I wind up ordering from them at least once a month. S/F.....Ken M

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Originally Posted by posixPilot

Cheap HF desiccant dryer after the regulator/filter, but before the gas inlet. It has 1/4" MIP/FIP fittings so you can rig it up with a quick disconnect to make it easy to pull out of the line. The filter has an internal thread, so you can disassemble it to replace the desiccant when it has expired.

http://www.harborfreight.com/inline-...ter-68215.html

Cheers
Mike

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I use these as well, just pitch them when done. Get them on sales for $4.00 each. I have heard of people baking them back to blue color. When pink they are done.

I took a dryer off a dental air compressor I got for free (stripped it down), put a regulator/separator in front of it, then the separator on the plasma itself. I have yet to see even a drop of water in either separator, although I KNOW there is moisture in the lines (can feel it when unhooking the line). The dental dryer is just a big dessicant tank, with copper tubing run around another tank many times, and a sort of 'storage' tank. I should take a picture of it, would not be hard to copy if someone wanted to do so.

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Originally Posted by everlastsupport

I use these as well, just pitch them when done. Get them on sales for $4.00 each.

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Yeah, there's not much ROI on replacing the desiccant when they only cost $4.00 ;) . Still, if you use quick disconnects, you can save the hassle of teflon tape and leak testing the fittings each time by replacing the desiccant ... the plastic bowl seals to the upper half with a gasket.

Cheers
Mike

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Originally Posted by Tacoma747

I took a dryer off a dental air compressor I got for free (stripped it down), put a regulator/separator in front of it, then the separator on the plasma itself. I have yet to see even a drop of water in either separator, although I KNOW there is moisture in the lines (can feel it when unhooking the line). The dental dryer is just a big dessicant tank, with copper tubing run around another tank many times, and a sort of 'storage' tank. I should take a picture of it, would not be hard to copy if someone wanted to do so.

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Worth a look if you get time to shoot a picture of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by posixPilot

Yeah, there's not much ROI on replacing the desiccant when they only cost $4.00 ;) . Still, if you use quick disconnects, you can save the hassle of teflon tape and leak testing the fittings each time by replacing the desiccant ... the plastic bowl seals to the upper half with a gasket.

Cheers
Mike

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I figured they were glued on. Will see if I can unscrew it. Then that would be easy to replace the desiccant. The dentist office one sounds like the ultimate solution :D

As with pretty much any kind of dust, best not to breath in any of the desiccant if there is powder in the canister ....

That is a great deal from Tooltopia. I'm grabbing one to incorporate into my shop air system. Hopefully I will see some better tool life as well as consumable life on the plasma.

Here is a picture of the dryer. Air goes into separator on far right, out of that into a copper tube that wraps around right side tank (which I *think* is just an empty tank), from there it goes into the bottom of the left tank (through the bottom separator), up through the dessicant, out the top and to the plasma. The fitting coming out the top (of the left tank) has a "T", one side goes to the plasma, the other side goes to a check valve, then to the right tank (no outlet, just a 'dead end' into that tank. Not sure of the purpose behind that though.

Forgot the pic:
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...8419000506.jpg