Cheap alternative for air compressors

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Here’s one for all you guys !!

This comes from an article in the Oct. 2008 issue of Model Railroad Craftsmen and I thought I would pass it along.

Use a CO2 cylinder (carbon Dioxide) instead of an air compressor. Not only is it WAY cheaper than investing in an expensive compressor, regulators, moisture traps, fittings…etc. it’s also silent, cheap to refill, and there is no moisture to worry about at all !!

All you need are two regulators, one for the CO2 cylinder (in the 800 psi range), and one for the air flow to your brush(0-100 psi range). and a couple cheap brass fittings from the hardware store to hook everything up…and of course the CO2.

Most welding supply stores will carry dual regulators that will work on the cylinder. Just make sure they are in the correct PSI range.

Happy Modeling !

Jerry

2

True, but in the long run the refills plus the cost of the CO2 regulators will cost more than a silent compressor.

Also, having a high pressure tank can be hazardous if it somehow fell or burst.

I do agree though that CO2 is a good, quiet, dry air alternative.

3

Wonder how helium would work?

You could paint AND sound like the chipmunks.

Until you passed out from that whole lack of oxygen thing…

So I guess that would be a problem. Yeah.

Maybe helium ain’t a good idea.

[:D]

4

Please do invest in a compressor. Trying to get away without a compressor is like starting an airline that can’t afford large jets but instead uses small Cessnas with a capacity for 1 pilot + 3 passengers. You can tell the skeptics that as long as each Cessna makes 100 trips per day it will carry the same number of passengers as a 747. It may be plausible but it’s just not common sense…

5

Would helium cause the paint to float up to the ceiling and not land on the model though? [(-D]

6

I suppose using helium could give a whole new meaning to the phrase “getting high”.

David

7

Actually, there are a lot of people out there who use CO2 as a propellant and are perfectly happy - it isn’t any different than using the small cans of propellant that some airbrush companies sell - except there’s a lot more propellant and you can regulate the pressure going to the airbrush. And for one reason or another, some people either don’t want to deal with an air compressor or can’t deal with an air compressor (I have a friend who has lived in an apartment building for 40+ years (you could only get his wife to move if you blew her out of there with dynamite) and his lease had a clause which banned air compressors of any type - so he uses tanked CO2 instead). In fact, I used nitrogen for several years because A. I had been given a C02 tank and the regulators and B. I got my nitrogen for free - my boss allowed me to fill the tank at least once a month at work. Using a commercial source for CO2 or nitrogen has one downside however, and that’s the fact the period between late afternoon on Saturday and 8 o’clock on Monday is the time you’re most likely to run out of propellant.

8

I saw a nice size CO2 bottle (approx 6 in diameter x 20 inches tall) at Harbor Freight the other day for $86 without regulators.

Tom S.

9

The advantage to a Co2 bottle, totally quiet and no need for a moisture trap. disadvantage you have to get them refilled about every 4-6 builds (15#bottle) @ 12.00-15.00 a refill. Regardless, I love my Co2 bottle.

10

Every thing has its advantages and disadvantages. I like the CO2 idea but I already have a compressor. I do however, dislike the constant noise but since the compress was about $20.00 from MicroMark I will stick with it until I am forced to a new one.

11

I used to use a pancake compressor. It seemed like everytime I had a tiny part in my tweezers that stupid thing would kick on,scare the living crap out of me and have to spend some time looking for that part on the floor. Im using a nitrogen bottle now. Its silent and dry and I have all the pressure I could possibly need.

12

And co2 is a greenhouse gas…nitrogen is a good alternative, although obviously there’s not much being released.

13

I would never use CO2 as a propellant in an area where I am sitting and painting. At my company, we sell fire suppression systems. CO2 is a great agent for fire suppression, it is also a great agent for depleting oxygen (that’s why it puts out fires so well) and, as pointed out in another post, it is a greenhouse gas. One suppression agent we sell is called Inergen. It is a combination of Argon, Nitrogen and 8% CO2. Some of our customers refuse to buy anything that contains CO2, including Inergen. Some jurisdictions require provide that CO2 can only be used where there is no alternate agent available.

I’m not suggesting you’ll suffer horrible consequences from exposure to CO2 in the small amounts used while painting. I am saying, however, that we tell our customers who use CO2 to evacuate an area that has a CO2 discharge. (If you insist on using the stuff, make sure that you do so in a well ventilated area that is exchanging large amounts of air - and that you’re using a spray booth.)

My opinion… buy a silent air compressor. If a landlord has a problem with a compressor, I’m sure he’ll be happier with that than knowing the pressure that a CO2 tank (or any compressed gas cylinder you have to buy) typically contains. As for the cost, by the time you buy a storage tank, a couple of regulators, hose, etc., You could buy a very nice compressor - even a pretty silent one. Besides, youll probably end up buying a reserve tank after you run out of CO2 some Saturday night right in the middle of a airbrush full of paint.

Wait until your fill station refuses to fill your tank because it’s now due for hydro-testing. (if they want to keep their DOT certification, it will happen).

Just my thoughts on the subject. Hear me now, believe me later.