Welding Tips and Tricks

first project. don't look closely at the welds
made brackets for the cooler and filter/regulator setup out of scrap.
bit of mig, stick and tig in there for good measure.

cooler has 6x 80mm pc case fans on it.
it works well. the stock outlet on it can't flow enough for air tools hence the upgrade to bigger pipe work and filter/reg.

Nice job!!!! With all that warm summer heat, is a cooler necessary? How the tig welds go?

most home compressors output air out of the tank so hot that it carries water straight through the water filter, condenses in the lines and then goes through your tools or into your paint.
the simple way around that is to cool it down. its easier to get rid of the heat coming out of the compressor than it is out of the tank. in the first test i did i had a small leak in the cooler outlet pipe and within 10 seconds of running the compressor it was leaking water.
plenty of utube vids of similar setups and it works great.
our summer heat and 90-100% humidity means huge amount of water in compressed air.

tig welds got better. the ugly one in the pic was a 1-2mm gap outside corner joint. really concave but it filled the back side nicely. i could have run a bead over the top but its good enough for the weight it carries.
tho really sick of the lift start and having to whip to break the arc to finish. also having the arc accidentally restart. plus manual gas wastes huge amounts of gas.
have a new tig ordered, which was meant to be here this week.

I like it. Where’d you source the cooler?

most home compressors output air out of the tank so hot that it carries water straight through the water filter, condenses in the lines and then goes through your tools or into your paint.
the simple way around that is to cool it down. its easier to get rid of the heat coming out of the compressor than it is out of the tank. in the first test i did i had a small leak in the cooler outlet pipe and within 10 seconds of running the compressor it was leaking water.
plenty of utube vids of similar setups and it works great.
our summer heat and 90-100% humidity means huge amount of water in compressed air.

We only have an average humidity of 16%, drier than a popcorn fart, so I just have a moisture collector in the air line, for the plasma cutter.
Nice job.

jwmelvin wrote:I like it. Where’d you source the cooler?

Search eBay for refrigeration condenser coils. There rated for high pressure.

jwmelvin wrote:I like it. Where’d you source the cooler?

thats a derale oil cooler. usa quality!
about the only one i could find locally available with a listed pressure rating.
only dodgy bit is it has AN fittings so had to use adapters of unknown pressure rating. tempted to cut the AN fittings off and fit something else.

i have heard of using fridge or aircon radiators, but i understand they are not pressure rated high enough.
this compressor is a little unusual for home compressors (at least around here) in that its 145psi max instead of the typical 115psi. i'm told the aircon radiators are only 90psi rated.

the other quirk i ran into is most gear thats meant for oil/water has a much lower rating for compressed air.
thats why i went for the less efficient tube style instead of the better radiator style coolers. tube is much less likely to fail. especially as some manufactures seam to have very dubious pressure ratings.

Most refrigeration condenser coils are rated for atleasr 250 psi. Anything for 410A is rated at 650 psi minimum.

Poland308 wrote:Most refrigeration condenser coils are rated for atleasr 250 psi. Anything for 410A is rated at 650 psi minimum.

thats well worth knowing.
any details on what to look for? how to tell a high pressure one from a low pressure one ?

Most of the refrigeration coils I have seen look like really small-bore tubing.

You have to buy it to match what you want. But lots of air compressors only have a 3/8 or 1/2 inch discharge and that’s what a lot of condenser coils are.

http://usacoil.com/condenser-coils/#mat ... ifications

Here’s a company that will make whatever you want. They offer standard sizes, we’ve used them for replacement coils through work.