Welding Tips and Tricks

I bought the parts to make the argon dryer that Jodi made. Should I put one in line with my gas for my mig and air compressor?

check for adequate cfm

15 SCFM and 125 PS

http://www.denlorstools.com/home/dt1/pa ... posab.html


Amazon may be cheaper or others

I use them welder/air tools

I don't understand the need for a gas dryer for use with MIG welder as long as you use bottled gas from welding gas supplier...I admit I ain't never read/watched Jody address it tho....I've been welding alum with spool gun fed by Argon from 150 cf bottle bought at my LWS and never had probs.

For my plasma, I bought the Harbor Freight refrigerated air dryer and added a MotorGuard filter dryer. For plasma it really paid off.

The dessicant dryer in a shielding-gas line is just insurance.

Bad gas is rare, but it does happen.

The dessicant will change color as it picks up moisture.

Steve S

For you guys that decide you want to run a desiccant dryer, either homemade or factory, please shop for cheaper alternative desiccant that is offered at big box grocery stores as cat litter....Look for it...it has blue colored pebbles it in and it works really well and is MUCH cheaper and lasts just as long and the higher priced spread.

If, however, you need to protect your plasma cutter, you will need at least a MotorGuard filter and an auto blowdown on your compressor to make your consumables last.

On your air compressor, just install one of these....It's an electronic automatic blowdown control...it only activates if your compressor is energized.....Here I am test fitting where I might install it.

http://i1157.photobucket.com/albums/p59 ... 351_01.jpg

I always got a kick out of the first MotorGuard filter that I ever saw. It used a roll of common toilet paper as the filter. It worked great. At work we still use a filter to remove oil after a high pressure Hydrogen compressor that uses Kotex tightly rolled and stacked, known here as the K filter. We might be the only place I know of who buys granny rags in boxes of 250 and we don't have a single female employee. Whatever works.

Len

Here ya go...this is my compressor/dryer setup.....

I use this to protect my Plasma cutter...I use installed bypass manifold to bypass the dryer for sandblasting or air tool use.

that white box on bottom is a simple and cheap Harbor Freight refrigerated air dryer....near the top just below the large pressure gage is my motorGuard filter

together they insure totally moisture free air to my plasma. Do I use it for MIG?...NOPE, and neither will you...you MIG set up will simply consist of the MIG and a C25 gas bottle supplied by your local welding supplier.

BTW, if you are in the market for a large hi cap shop air compressor, then shop Harbor Freight.

That compressor you see in my pic is a 5 horse single phase with 60 gallon tank....NOT a single part of it is made in China...The tank is made in USA and ASME certified, the electric motor is also made in USA...all the switches are also USA made....The ONLY part made overseas is the actual air pump and it is made in Italy by a VERY reputable maker.

That Harbor Freight compressor has no problem keeping up with my large Harbor Freight sandblast cabinet

Has anyone checked into the point of use pressure swing absorbsion units? I've not been able to find any with prices readily available on their web sites. I know the theory works very well, I just not sure if it's economical for hobby use.

We use a large Hankinson one on the instrument air compressor at work and it does a fine job. There's a 15-20% loss of air on the large units everytime they cycles though, which is about every two minutes. There is around 200 air operated valves working at any given time in the plant so it pays to have very dry air. It has a dew point analyzer on it and if it picks up too much moisture (-40 dew point or above) it switches over to our Nitrogen backup.

Len