OJ's thread got me thinking as my air pressure has always been low in this shop. I have always had low pressure but haven't taken the time to sort it out. OJ mentioned a cheap regulator and I have one that's redundant anyway, so since I was going to take that one out I thought it'd be a good idea to get hi flow connectors. I tried drilling out the ones I had and after a bit of work found that they would no longer couple correctly to the quick disconnects I had. Investigation showed that the high flow connectors have proprietary disconnects and connectors, as I am in a hurry I bought these from harbour fright. Long story short, my air pressure went from 14lbs to 28lbs at the sata 2000hvlp gun, trigger held until stabilized, tank regulator full open on circuit one which is the hose I've always used and best for reference. So my compressor will now hold that constantly. I feel much better, the 3000rp holds steady at about 32lbs+. I removed all connectors I could, making direct connections with hoses instead of quick connects, changed all connectors left to HF which have prob a 50% bigger hole. I now have on my paint circuit a single regulator on the dessicant filter which I regulate to max flow at the gun so I don't get a big surge when pulling the trigger. Just wanted to share as this $100 is the some of the best money I've spent in the shop. That said, if you do this, look at other brands too as the HF brand is actually twice the cost of the brand at Summit Auto and may not be as durable although they do seem to be made very well.
Airflow and HF connectors
- Thread starter Slofut
- Start date
couple more pics, and correction... I also have a regulator and a cheap filter water separator at the compressor which I may nix soon too although it does work well for draining some water so idk.
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Also, the three way in the first pic, from HF. They are the cheaper ones and the only ones they had a few years ago, and have non-standard hole sizes and you can't refit a standard qd in them. A pic toward the end, of the merlin QD manifold package is what you want and uses standard fittings and I refitted one with a Merlin hf qd.
Chris_Hamilton
Trying to be the best me, I can be
The filter in the first pic attached to the tank is really not helping anything. It's designed to remove water and hot air coming out of the compressor has little water in it till it cools , which is why 50 feet of line (not air hose) is recommended as a minimum before any filter. Hot air needs to cool and the water vapor needs to condensate. You would be much better off ditching all those rubber hoses and doing proper lines through your shop. 3/4 ' id should be considered the minimum. Those 3 in 1 connectors aren't helping anything either. Keep your regular hose length to no longer than 50 feet and your hose you paint with ideally should be no longer than 35 feet. Put your filter at the ends of your lines.
This should give you an idea how to setup air piping in your shop. Do it this way and you will have excellent pressure and very little trouble with water in your lines.
This should give you an idea how to setup air piping in your shop. Do it this way and you will have excellent pressure and very little trouble with water in your lines.
Agreed Chris. And I wasn't advocating plumbing a system like I have mine, it was rushed when I got the building and I've never got around to plumbing it properly. Although the first cheap regulator/water separator is in the wrong place it does trap some water out of the hot tank and I bleed it off every other day. One day I'll get time to make it all right. I was though, just illustrating the difference I saw in weeding out restrictions in connectors. It made a huge difference already and has me wanting to actually plumb the shop better, but Idk if it'll be anytime soon. I've sprayed some nice paint projects as is so I feel better now just to have made a difference in pressure and flow. Thanks for the pic, I'll def use that.
jcclark
Oldtimer
These 3/8" Home Depot couplers connect to the std 1/4" hose ends and
have a much bigger hole inside, which is the bottleneck of the system.
The std 1/4" is on the left. 3/8" on the right, they interchange with the hose conn.
but have a big difference inside as shown
have a much bigger hole inside, which is the bottleneck of the system.
The std 1/4" is on the left. 3/8" on the right, they interchange with the hose conn.
but have a big difference inside as shown
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I thought abt that Jim, but didn't want to change fittings on everything. I know my diesel mech friends use that size in their shop.I didn't see any other fittings at lowes/HD here. The HF fittings from H freight are suspect until proven durable. Then I was in walmart yest and I'll be damned if they didn't have high flow couplers and fittings, similar to HF and prob the same. Of all places to have something like this. These I hope will get me through this paint job and I can start making better changes to my system. I may actually change to 3/8 connectors.