So I finally had enough of wasting consumables and talked to company into investing in a water separator to mount on the machine itself. We have a very bad moisture problem with our shop air lines that no one wants to address. I just read some where that people are using Nitrogen rather then shop air on their plasma cutters. Does anyone have any input or experience with the powermax 600 and Nitrogen?
- Braehill
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Joined:Sat Jul 06, 2013 11:16 am
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Location:Near Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. Steel Buckle of the Rust Belt
bigworm40,
You can use Nitrogen anywhere that compressed air is used with a caveat, you need proper ventilation. If your in an open shop area then there is no problem. A small room or a confined space, then there is a chance of reducing the Oxygen to an unsafe level.
Nitrogen is ultra dry and should extend the life of your consumables substantially, but I'm not sure that the savings could be realized unless you have access to liquid Nitrogen in bulk. A plasma cutter uses quite a bit of gas and will go through a cylinder post haste.
Len
You can use Nitrogen anywhere that compressed air is used with a caveat, you need proper ventilation. If your in an open shop area then there is no problem. A small room or a confined space, then there is a chance of reducing the Oxygen to an unsafe level.
Nitrogen is ultra dry and should extend the life of your consumables substantially, but I'm not sure that the savings could be realized unless you have access to liquid Nitrogen in bulk. A plasma cutter uses quite a bit of gas and will go through a cylinder post haste.
Len
Now go melt something.
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Len
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Len
Make your own desiccant dryer. The large pellets are inexpensive.
The dryer is designed as a piece of pipe with fittings on either end.
Put a piece of screen inside the ends and use the larger desiccant pellets.
The pellets can be re-used if you dry them out in an oven.
The dryer is designed as a piece of pipe with fittings on either end.
Put a piece of screen inside the ends and use the larger desiccant pellets.
The pellets can be re-used if you dry them out in an oven.
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- Otto Nobedder
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WerkSpace has your answer.
Nitrogen is dry and does a great job on stainless and aluminum, but, in my experience, dry air works better on carbon steels. There seems to be a real advantage to the 21% O2 content of "air" over nitrogen in cutting carbon steels.
I would look at ways to dry air local to the plasma cutter, if they're too cheap for an air-dryer for the shop air.
Steve S
Nitrogen is dry and does a great job on stainless and aluminum, but, in my experience, dry air works better on carbon steels. There seems to be a real advantage to the 21% O2 content of "air" over nitrogen in cutting carbon steels.
I would look at ways to dry air local to the plasma cutter, if they're too cheap for an air-dryer for the shop air.
Steve S
That's correct. It works well, but it can work better if you cool the air first.
Try to run a long length of air hose between the compressor and water separator.
or you can build a copper coil with a fan to cool it down. Cool air drops its moisture.
As air cools, the moisture condenses and can be collected in a water trap.
The trap can be drained on a regular basis.
Try to run a long length of air hose between the compressor and water separator.
or you can build a copper coil with a fan to cool it down. Cool air drops its moisture.
The best way of getting rid of humidity is thru refrigeration.Negativ3 wrote:Interesting solution WerkSpace, is it air in at the bottom, out at the top?
As air cools, the moisture condenses and can be collected in a water trap.
The trap can be drained on a regular basis.
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