Big air

[Johnmarston]

Greetings from west by god. I’m a knifemaker and beginner engraver. I’m upgrading my air system in my shop to a 60 gallon compressor with a 60 gallon reserve tank. I’m going to be piping air through out my shop. Right now I run my engraving setup on a small quiet compressor. But also at that station I have a 2 pneumatic rotary tools . One that runs dental size burrs and one with 1/8 collet . They are air hogs. Could I run everything off the shop air , using its own manifold. With regulator , filter and 3 stage dryer. Or run the air hogs on shop air and continue to use small compressor to run my classics. I’m trying to just plumb this setup just once. Thanks for any advice

 

[graniteguy52]

John,

Keep the classics on the small compressor, the air hogs on the shop system, but throw in some extra valves (or quick connects) so you can run anything from either source.

 

[Johnmarston]

Thank you . Sound advice that gives me options.

 

[monk]

all depends on cubic feet of air at the source at a given pressure. determine cfm requirements of ea tool. how many "cubes". are needed at a given time. situationally, all our needs vary. you will have to determine that for yerself. jmho

 

[Johnmarston]

Thank you . With what Im piping in I will have plenty of air. I guess my question was is it advantageous to the performance and longevity of my engraving equipment to be on an isolated air source, or is air just air and pipe it into my industrial setup?

 

[Meshach]

Thank you . With what Im piping in I will have plenty of air. I guess my question was is it advantageous to the performance and longevity of my engraving equipment to be on an isolated air source, or is air just air and pipe it into my industrial setup?

As long as it is dried and regulated properly you should be fine.
Temperature can play a role, but mostly just in humidity content, so after your 3 stage you should be fine. Just make sure your air stays dry as moisture can cause issues.
I have been running off of the big shop compressor for a while for the same reason as you said, the rotary tools require more than the small dry air compressor can supply and even a quiet box compressor in the room is noiser than the big shop compressor in the other building, granted if you wear ear protection while working it's a bit of a moot point, but it's still nice just dealing with one inlet source.
One thing I just changed recently is putting separate regulators and shut-off valves on everything, that way any bleading air can be cut off while not in use and psi doesn't have to be reset or adjusted every time I change tools.

 

[John B.]

We sure can find ways to complicate things, can't we !!
I remember when we just picked up a hammer and chisel.

And I still do most of the time.
John B.

 

[AJB]

I “piped” my shop a couple years ago, not specifically for engraving, but just so I wouldn’t have to break out long lengths of hose everyone I wanted to use air tools away from the compressor. I used PEX tubing, which was a breeze to run and had all the pressure capacity I would ever need. I’ve hear of PVC “exploding” and throwing of fragments so abandoned any thoughts of going that route.

 

[monk]

We sure can find ways to complicate things, can't we !!
I remember when we just picked up a hammer and chisel.

And I still do most of the time.
John B.

jb-- i'm tryin my best to remember the sledge hammer i started with