Official Luthiers Forum!

For those that use a compressor and HVLP gun, what type of water filtration set up do you use?????

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MK5acoustics.com

While not this one in particular it is very similar to mine ( Mine is just really old)
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200349695

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

this might be a dumb question, but do these filters operate like dust collection or respirator filters, where you have to change a part per period of time, or maybe you just clean them and continue.

Thanks, Gorjan

I use these at the gun without anything else and have no had any problems with them
http://www.summitracing.com/search/product-line/devilbiss-whirlwind-disposable-air-filters

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I use a Hankison refrigerated air dryer. No moisture issues since installing this baby

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

My compressor has an air cooler on it and I use the Devilbiss DAD-500 three stage Desiccant dryer system in the booth. The desiccant tank holds a large amount of beads and my air is pretty clean and dry given that I only have to change the beads once a year. The first and second stages catch the larger water and oil and the large desiccant tank catches and vapor (moisture) At about $800 +/-, this might be over-kill for some of you but really, how many finish jobs can you afford to re-do because of contaminants in your air supply? For those that spray once or twice a year but still want a pretty good multi stage filter, the Devilbiss QC3 is an all in one, three stage desiccant filter for about $200. These even have the air quality window like my DAD-500 which I really like. This gives you a window into your air quality and lets you know when you need to change your filter media. The replacement cartridge for the QC3 is about $50.00 and if it were to last you a year it would be well worth it. Also, don't pull your air for shop tools through these dryers. This will obviously increase the maintenance/media costs for the dryers. You can get filters much cheaper for general shop air that will supply your tools with clean air and have much reduced filter costs. For shop tool air, I use the Devilbiss HAR-602. These are just great and have a manual drain at the bottom that you can monitor your air with. Mine actually have just a slight bit of vapor in them when I drain them. They are about $150 and I place them at the end of all air supply runs. Here's a pic of my DAD-500.

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jw ( o)===:::

The advice I read which has worked for me for 15 years, is to run about 25 feet of hose or metal pipe from the compressor before sending the air through a water trap. The hose length before the water trap is to allow the air to cool off and the water to condense. Mount the trap low so the water never has to go uphill between the compressor and the trap. The water traps are a reasonable priced item that normal tool stores stock, not the fancy dessicators. The air trap has a valve on the bottom. You open the valve when you see water in the plastic bowl, the water dribbles out (or blows out if the pressure is on).
I put quick change fittings on both sides of my trap and mounted it on the garage wall. Its easy and fast to put the trap inline for spraying or bypass it for air tools or blowing up bike tires.
Before I had the trap, water drops would occaisionally come out on the finish.
The main trouble making moisture for nitro lacquer isn't from the air lines but from atmospheric humidity meeting the rapidly evaporating (cooling) solvent in the spray. Sometimes I warm up the lacquer, the gun and the guitar gently with a 300 watt lamp. Then I can spray on cold rainy days.

When I built my shop I designed the paint room to be as far as possible from the compressor, then I ran copper pipe all throughout on a downhill slope to the paint room. There are four relief valves prior to the paint room. I see a little water accumulation in the first two...but never the last two. Even so there's a sump type (like Brian referenced) filter right before the gun. But my room is humidity controlled most of the time. That probably explains why I haven't seen any issues with nitro...or anything else.

If you want guaranteed dry air at the gun (and you do) the desiccant system is it. I used to spray a LOT of stuff at a former business and water was a problem until the day I got a desiccant system. After that I never saw the issue again. The beads are easy to maintain...like Todd said.

$5? Good grief. I think I paid $500 for mine.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Yes proper plumbing goes a long way. I used PVC for my lines and mounted my compressor in the attic. There is a straight drop line from the tank with a water trap and drain cock at the bottom. Most of the condensation gets caught there. You should have at least 25 feet of pipe before the outlet you use as well to allow the air to cool and vapor to condense out. Every outlet on my lines is from a vertical drop and has a water trap at the bottom, well below the outlet. I get no water in my air unless I am doing something with really high CFM's and start to cycle my compressor to hard.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/