I finished my silent compressor this week and tried it out painting last night. It worked great. Can hardly hear it, fills up a 4gal tank in a few minutes. Turns on and off and back on again at the preset air pressures without any problems. I used my Iwata airbrushes to test it out as I didn’t want to ruin any of my good airbrushes in case oil was comming through the air line.[;)] No noticble oil in thoil seperator filter , none in the moister/air filter and none in the air line. Sprayed paint without any problems.
John
That’s great news John. [tup]
Did you use a refrigerator motor?
What horsepower is it?
Thanks
Mike
Yeah, I was able to get a nice Danfoss compressor motor, It says it is 700 watts on a tech sheet that I looked up. That translates to about .9 hp if I calculated right so it is a good size motor. It put out a good amount of air and fills my tank up in about 2-3 minutes if that.
John
Oh yeah, I tried to post a picture of it but wasn’t able to.
John
oohhhh i can get a 1/3 hp drill press for 29.99 here! id rather buy one of those hardcore powerful compressors at home depot, the 100+ liter tank ones. too bad they are like $$9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
jfrejo, I also plan to build one since we dont have any silent compressor in our country and if there is, i know for sure that the price will be extravagant. Can u e-mail me pictures and diagram to make one? My e-mail address is sigman@skyinet.net.
hey sig, if you can get your hands on an Osprey’s “Airbrushing Painting Techniques” book, it explains exactly how to build one along with a materials list. its really not that complicated. mine worked great for a while, but i think i had too small a motor. also, mine began to pump oil through the lines at an impressive rate and ultimately began interfering with my paint jobs. it was super quiet though. i believe if you get you hands on the right hp motor like jfrejo did, it would be a fine and inexpensive compressor. with the deals being found on ebay though, it may be less headache to bid on one of those jewels. later.
Silent Air Compressors, eh?! I’m definately going to look into that as I live in an apartment, and mine is just a basic Badger compressor that runs nonstop while it’s on. What kind of dimensions (space wise, not tech wise) did you end up with??
Sigman,
Here’s some helpful info for you:
http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/compressorgi_1.htm
Mike
Hey, I forgot to ask, what was your total cost on building it yourself. I was just curious, 'cause I was comparing the Super Silent 20-A by Silentaire, and the lowest I could find it at was $389.00.
Thanks Salt and Mike
Heath,
You can sometimes find refrigerator motors on Ebay for about $30 or less.
Just make sure to get one around 1/2 hp or so as the small ones have to work too hard.
You could probably build one for about $100, or less depending on where you get the components.
Why not buy one of the Whisper Jets on Ebay that roosterfish and I have been pushing? It is pretty quiet from what roosterfish says and for the price you can’t go wrong.
Mike
The problem in my country is that we are limited on compressors here. The only ones available is the portable diaphram type and the 5hp industrial type thats why I plan to make one silent compressor. - Dicky
[:I][:I] I’m embarassed to say Mike that when I was younger, about 6 years ago or so when I was in the military, I was on some thin ice with crediters and such…make a long story short, I was short of cash, had to eat, so I wrote a couple of bad checks…They closed all of my accounts, and since have not been allowed any credit cards, or Checking accounts. Since then, I have fully recovered, and paid off all of my debts (I even had my truck repossesed), but I never once filed bankruptcy. I still have to wait a couple of years for my credit to fully clear up. It’s been very hindering over the years to say the least, but living without credit has been one of the things that helps me keep a positive attitude, as there’s not too many bills to stress about. It’s also why I have to pay cash to my dentist. Anyways, that’s the long and short of why I don’t have an e-bay account, and I know that I may be the only one!!!
thats not hard to do at all heath, especially when your young. i built my silent compressor for around $80 bucks but i had a guy give me the frig motors. i got most of my components from ace hardware. as far as dimensions go, its according to the tank size you choose because the frig motors are about the size of a football or so. later.
Sigman, I will send you a picture and information, just need some time to put it together. You can do a web search to find some links of other people who have built them. It is really not that hard to build one. It cost me a total of $75 dollars most of that cost was the oil filter/seperator and pressure switch.
The biggest part of my compressor is the air tank which is about 14" dia.x5" height. The motor sits an top of it. If you can afford a compressor buy , its just easier to do.
John
jfrejo, what type of pressure switch did you buy? is it square D?
I bought a Furnas adjustable pressure switch unloader on ebay for $21.00 I think . It was a great deal as this brand switch is expensive. You can get other ones from Grainger for about $26.00
John
that was another problem i had with mine, i couldn’t get the unloader to work at all. i dont know if it wasnt enough cfm to operate it or what. i never worked out that kink because the oil started to become a problem. later.