inline Desiccant dryer help

I bought a harbor freight inline Desiccant Dryer for like 8bucks
my air pressure is right at 90psi until I pull trigger then it drops to right at 60psi I take the Desiccant Dryer off and pressure stays at 70 is this normal or what ? the beads are still kind of blueish or clear they are NOT pink
the flow direction is right I cant get the pressure above 60 psi with the filter on any advice would help....thanks
oh btw its a powerultra205p had it one week only so far so good
how often will I have to change the the ends on the plasma cutter ? or what do I look for when its time to change them ?

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Originally Posted by travis

I bought a harbor freight inline Desiccant Dryer for like 8bucks
my air pressure is right at 90psi until I pull trigger then it drops to right at 60psi I take the Desiccant Dryer off and pressure stays at 70 is this normal or what ? the beads are still kind of blueish or clear they are NOT pink
the flow direction is right I cant get the pressure above 60 psi with the filter on any advice would help....thanks
oh btw its a powerultra205p had it one week only so far so good
how often will I have to change the the ends on the plasma cutter ? or what do I look for when its time to change them ?

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That filter you have will not handle the flow. Get a bigger one or use two of them in parallel.
Even 90 to 70 seems like a lot of pressure drop. Make sure you don't have other air restrictions, like small hose or fittings. As long as you end up with the proper flow it's ok, but you will have poor piercing with large pressure changes. Did your torch come with the ball tube flow gauge?

The small inline filters from HF are worthless for the CFM required for a Plazma cutter. You can drill out the end of the filter to increase the volume however then you reduce the dessicant's ability to remove the water. I ended up using one of the larger air seperaters with the glass bowl and filled it with blue bead dessicant. I bought a pound of dessicant off ebay for 12 bucks.

Agree with the other responses. Those small inline filters are mainly for spray painting. I tried one on my PP70 and it plain did not work.

There are many better alternatives, both retail and homemade. Do a Google search for air driers. Good ones do not come cheap.

See if this link will work:

https://www.google.com/search?q=plas...ient=firefox-a

Also, here is a thread on this Everlast site on the general subject of dry air: (Note: the link in the first post takes you to a different air dryer than the post refers to - it really was a desiccant filled piece of pipe - since discontinued.)

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...-plasma-cutter

the only gage it came with is built in the plasma handle its a purple color with no name or marking on it
all my hose is 3/8 with the standard 1/4 inch fittings

Building one like the old HF pipe model is on my todo list. Meantime, a piece of 1" pipe stuffed with desiccant serves just fine. I removed the orifice in the HF in-line model and use it at the back of the machine to let me know when to change the desiccant in the pipe.

This is my backup Desiccant Air Dryer with heaters to dry the desiccant after been used came from the USA TRIDENT Submarine it was their backup for the missiles bay that they did not get to used 150CFM at 5000psi got it cheap.
Attachment 10274

Here's how I got my air set up for my PP50. air hose coming off compressor connects to a inline water/oil separator on a short piece of hose going into a motorguard filter unit, coming out of the motorguard, line goes to a air pressure regulator set at 90 psi, screwed into the outlet end of the regulator is the water trap that came with the plasma cutter. If your looking at a MotorGuard filter unit get an M100 kit, it has 1/2" ports. The M60 only has 3/8" or 1/4" ports.

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Originally Posted by Gerry

If your looking at a MotorGuard filter unit get an M100 kit, it has 1/2" ports. The M60 only has 3/8" or 1/4" ports.

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I agree... The M100 has 1/2" npt ports, the M60 has 3/8" npt ports and the M30 has 1/4" npt ports. Always get the M100 kit since they come with three filters and bush it to the size you need.
All the motorguard kits come with three filters and cost around $75.

I'm confused here...

I had one of those HF, $2.00, In-line filter/desiccant "things" (red). If I put it in the air supply to my Plasma Cutter (PP256) my regulator reads 60psi and when I activate the torch it's not dropping at All. It maintains 60 just fine. So, how is this not working for me???