Guys… Anyone here add a secondary air tank to there AB compressor system? My compressor runs constantly when I paint, and at times overheats after long bouts or preshading, etc. I was thinking to add a .5 gallon air tank to my system. These can be had for reasonable money and I think it could/would eliminate the constant running of my compressor. Anyone else doing this, or have other ideas regarding storing some air to keep the compressor cooler?
My compressor runs almost constantly but more than handles my needs. I’d be more concerned about how yours overheats. I’m certainly no expert but that doesn’t sound normal and adding additional tank capacity would only make the overheating worse.
if you increase the volume of your tank you would need a more powerful larger displacement pump to bring the tanks up to pressure. The pump you have is only just powerful enough to pressurise your existing tank. double the size of the tank and i expect the pump will never build up the 30-40 psi usually acheived in home compressors and will never stop running.
Hi Geof,
Adding a tank has been done. Check out this link:
And, Don Wheeler’s site. He has also added a tank to his Iwata SmartJet (bottom of review).
The best way to keep the compressor cooler is to get a more powerful compressor such as the Sparmax TC-2000 twin piston. A well designed airbrush compressor should not overheat even when running continuously. A tank would not be necessary if you get a good quality compressor.
Most cheap compressors are made in China this day and the quality is usually not very good. If the unit overheat after “long bouts or preshading”, it is likely to overheat filling up the tank too.
It is the cheapest to get a compressor with tank the first place. Parts for adding an after thought tank are difficult to find and expensive. I know because I did it. Good luck.
I’ve got the SilentAir Scorpion II which is basically a Sparmax TC-2000 and it’s been a piece of trash that’s gone down on me three times now. There’s a slow leak somewhere (I’m convinced it’s inside the compressor) and that causes it to run constantly until it overheats and shuts off. It’s burned through one pressure switch already and honestly I’m tempted to just chuck it and get something new.
HOWEVER, adding a tank will increase air handling volume, reducing cycling due to a small leak.
Have you looked into Viair? Used to use them back in my offroading days…their tanks are solid and pretty cheap (you can get a 1 gallon for $40 on Amazon).
The Scorpion isn’t a Sparmax TC-2000 or anything like it, it’s just another Chinese / Fengda / Royal / Whoever product being marketed by yet someone else…
Milairjunkie, your comment is right on. There is a huge difference in quality between the Scorpion II and TC-2000 due to their difference in places of origin. The experience of DoogsATX should help buyers of airbrush compressor to be more careful.
In the US, buyer can easily tell the place of manufacturing from the barcode on the box. It is probably true in UK too.
Ah - excellent to know. Was a Christmas gift last year…says a lot that I’ve set it aside and am limping along on my old Paasche blue beast with no pressure switch of any kind.
Did you contact Silentaire for repair under warranty? I would expect that warranty period to be a year at least.
Mine is a decent quality compressor, we are talking 2 plus hours of continuous run when it shut down… It has only happened twice. My thought on this is to keep the cycling a bit less frequent. A tank should help that. The tanks used above were 1 gallon, I’m thinking a .5 tank. I have no reserve air on my comp. I also considered a small fan. All comps get hot, a fan would be helpful too, I think. Glad to see it has been done, fortunately I have all the small parts already, just need to source a tank! Thanks guys!
I belive that some of the Chinapressors may have their parts manufactured in China & then shipped to Taiwan where they are assembled - I’ve seen some that obviously originated from China, but have been marked built / made / constructed / assembled / whatever in Taiwan…
Sparmax compressors are quite easily differentiated by having a quick look - their motor casings are fastened together by external bolts, they have an air intake on the motor body with a replaceable foam filter, a metal switch gear cover & a chrome pressure gauge casing - the cheaper compressors generally don’t have any & certainly not all of these hallmarks (not yet anyway).
Another (& unfortunate) “hallmark” of Sparmax compressors is their price tag, but you know the saying…
Yep. Severely underwhelmed.
The advised duty cycle on most hobby compressors is in the region of 30 minutes, so having it cut out after 2+ hours of continuous use is no shame at all.
A tank would probably work quite well for you, especially when doing detail work & the likes where you will only be using a fraction of the compressors output - I’m figuring that if your compressor runs continuously that it’s bleed regulated as opposed to being an auto on/off model?
If it is bleed regulated, you should look at getting a pressure switch wired through the compressor (40 on / 60off is about the norm) & either make certain that the tank is rated in excess of the compressors output or get a pressure relief valve.
It took me sigificant effort to collect all the parts. The most difficult one to find was the check valve in 1/4" size which I finally sourced from a “home brew beer supply” website. I found that the total cost is too high unless you already have all the tools and parts at home.
You need an airtank with 4 ports. One for air in, one air out, one overpressure safety valve and one for moisture drainage. A aluminum tank would be better from the rusting point of view. You can find the tank at off-road truck store for air horn or air brake uses. These stores are not hard to find if you live in a big metro area. In midsize city, good luck. Below is one of these web store location.
http://www.tellico4x4.com/index.php/cPath/14262_909_2869
Another cheap way of doing this is to get a cheap tools compressor at Habor Freight when on sale. You can get the tank and all necessary valves and tubing for $50 or less. Just throw away the noisy compressor you do not need.
It sounds like you compressor does not have the auto-on-off switch. I am not sure what you can do to stop the compressor motor from running continuously, and overheat eventually, with or without a tank. What brand and model do you have?
I have a Paasche DA400 which gets barely warm to the touch in normal use. If I force the motor to run continuously, the temperature of the cylinder heads stablizes after about 25-30 minutes and stays at about 20 degree F above room temperature. It does feel slightly hot, but not burning when I touch it. The 1-gallon airtank takes 5 minutes to fill to 93 psi from empty. My DA400 cycles on and off between 75 and 93 psi, which is higher than most airbrush compressors. Do you know how hot your compressor got when the thermal cut-off kicked in after 2 hours?
Not sure about the brand on mine. It wasn’t cheap, I purchased it at hobby lobby several years ago. I do have a pressure regulated on/off switch. It kicks on at about 35psi and off about 45 psi. When running the brush (iwata hp/cs) it kicks on then during spray time it stays on. When I release the gun it picks up and shuts off in seconds, however, when doing fine line work the on time is seriously higher then off time. The idea of a small tank was to reduce the cycle time and let the airbrush stay off longer with a higher volume of air.
The system works just fine overall, just trying to see if it is reasonable to let the comp run a bit less overall to extend its life. In terms of heat, it gets freakin’ hot. I’ll run my laser temp guage on it and let you guys know. Normally, it feels very warm, when it shuts down is is very hot, but not to enough to burn, just very uncomfortable to the touch.
In terms of connection, why can’t one run the compressed side through a filter, then on the out side run an additional filter and pressure regulator? I don’t see a need for a bleed off valve at such low pressures, or just put one inline with the outgoing system?? At least that is how my 2 horse compressor works with the exception of the bleed valve on the tank…
I’ve been using a tank with a small hobby compressor for several years now, works fine. Actually it’s an old Campbell Hausfeld compressor that the motor died on. I just disconnected the pressure line at the tank and added a flex hose with a quick disconnect on the compressor end so I could unhook it. Other benefits are that it does away with any pulsing and acts as a large moisture trap. You might want to consider adding a check valve to your pressure line. An actual compressor tank has one built in.
The pressure switch on my current compressor kicks on at 45psi and out at 60psi. With continuous spraying the comp will still run all the time trying to maintain pressure but if you can pause occasionally and allow it to catch up it gets a break. Or you can shut it off, run the pressure down in the tank then switch it on again. My previous compressor, Iwata Sprint Jet, didn’t have a pressure switch and it would build pressure in a 2.5 gallon tank to 110psi. I actually liked that setup better. I could shoot for quite a while with the comp off and it only took a few minutes to build back to 100 or so. The Iwata lasted for about 7 years using it that way. It needs a new seal/ring on the piston and it will be good to go again. I may have shortened it’s life by using it in this manner but trust me, it was used a lot over those 7 years. And everything else is fine, just needs a new piston seal. Break the cost of that down over period of time and it was worth it to me.
Any comp is going to get warm and even hot. There’s no way around it. Heat is a byproduct of work and of compressing gas. Some people will try to tell you otherwise but that’s just the way it is. There is usually a small disk air filter on the air inlet of a small comp, if it gets clogged it will restrict airflow and cause the comp to labor. Also, most small comps have a fan built in that spins with the motor but it just flows air across the motor. Using a seperate fan to blow across the cylinder may help. Haven’t tried that myself.
Tony
Geof, you may have an easier solution than adding an airtank. An airtank may be good in general, but not help your situation in reducing the motor on time.
A single piston hobby compressor will run quite a bit hotter than a twin piston one, (such as the Iwata Powerjet, Sparmax TC-2000 or Paasche DA400). But it is not right to run the motor continuously. When it triggers the thermal shut-off switch, it is definitely running too hot.
I use the same airbrush as yours, Iwata HP-CS, but never ran into a situation of the compressor running continuously up to 2 hours. Since it happened when you were doing fine line work, I suspect that it is similar to a known problem of the Iwata Smartjet compressor. If you have a breed-off type pressure regulator on the compressor, you will be leaking air through the regulator at low pressure settings, thus forcing the compressor motor to run continuously. The solution is to replace the regulator with a true diaphram type pressure regulator designed specifically for airbrushes.
If you post a picture or the barcode of your compressor here, some of the more knowledgeable member such as Milairjunkie may be able to help you identify the model and offer specfic suggestions. Your compressor may be the same as the Iwata Smartjet. You can contact Don Wheeler to get more advise on how he added the tank to the Smartjet.
Most compressor airtank should be powder coated inside to prevent rusting. It is a good practice to breed off the tank (using the pressure relief valve) and drain any condensation inside after each airbrushing session. It helps to extend the life of the airtank just like we do with the bigger tools compressor.
Geoff,
If your looking for a small tank HERE"S a 0.66 gal (2.5 L) that’s not too outrageous and should work since you have all other parts. HTH
Not sure about the bleed off, but I think it is a diaphragm type. When I say continuously that is more a description of a lot of use in that period. At any point I release the airbrush, it does shut off, but usually for just seconds until I start again.
Looking around, the tank Bick found looks perfect for this job. However, another thread has piqued my interest regarding C02 tanks as pressurized air. This might be something to think about once my comp dies. Really, at this point, my comp performs very well and doesn’t seem like it is going to die any time soon. It is cheap enough to experiment with the tank idea and see how it goes…