Be careful with compressors. The compressing of air causes heat. Not only does the compressor get hot so does the air itself. Continuous use of a small compressor like an airbrush type can cause you to start a fire with dust and/or combustible materials too close to your compressor. An airbursh compressor when used for an airbrush usually does not stay on continiously. You brush a little and the tank gets full and the compressor shuts off. With an open valve cooling and/or blowing your chips the compressor will get quite hot. They are oilless and have nothing to carry the heat generated away but air.
So make sure nothing can fall or get knocked on to the compressor during use. Although you are trying to get the unit quiet the use a a small fan directly on the compressor would help dissipate heat.
@gdon_2003 Thats a good info to have. Thank you. I have two cnc machines standing one next to another and they both need misting setups. I don’t really cut any wood so not that worried about debris catching on fire. Airbrush compressor is doing good job but is not enough to run two machines simultaneously, so I’m actually in the market for another compressor. Originally was thinking about picking up another airbrush compressor but after your comment I started thinking about getting one of these guys -> California Air Compressor
I’m thinking of hooking up two lines to it and control each of them with a solenoid valve so they turn on automatically when the machine starts the program. My question is, with this CAT compressor having a Oil-Free pump am I in the same boat as with the airbrush compressor?
Unfortunately, if you look at the specs for compressors, they cannot operate at anywhere near 100 duty cycle, this is why you need to match the CFM at the pressure you require for the job at hand. A larger high pressure tank makes it possible for the compressor to catch-up and dispense at lower pressure. Usually a compressor will have a circuit breaker to address when the motor will draw too much power when straining but it will get hot for sure.
That makes sense. My 15gal compressor set at around 20psi would turn on usually every 9mins. The problem is that it’s so loud that every time it kicks in it scares the living hell out of me. I’m assuming a quiet compressor with 11gal tank from Harbor Freight should do the job.
I hate to ask a dumb question. But what is the purpose of the air blast? Is it for metal or wood. Doesn’t the dust boot clear the chips when cutting wood?
There is no such thing as a dumb question. This is indeed for clearing chips when cutting metal, since you cannot suck them out of the cut as you do with wood
Before you buy one of these from Amazon type this into your Browser; PointZero 1/5 HP Airbrush Compressor. Point Zero has them at around $15 less than Amazon.
And, maybe your local art shops have these or similar in stock, which you might be able to plug in and listen to for you noise level.
Look at you guys spendin all this money on air blast setups!
All you gotta do is run your machines upside down and chip clearance problems become a thing of the past! Inverted vertical machining centers are the future!
I 100% meant this as a joke but I bet you actually could run a Nomad upside down and this joking comment would actually work perfectly.
I like the way you think, but clamping material down would probably not be fun. Now if you could dream up an inversion table for your Shapeoko, you might be onto something!
It’s an interesting thought experiment, but chips raining down(up?) onto the spindle bearings, moving parts, etc sounds less fun. Perhaps sideways is better???
With nothing connected at the end of the hose, the air flow is unusable. But I went back and re-read this thread, and took @BartK advice to use an actual airbrush (and in my case its 0.5mm nozzle), and it gives me a steady jet of air, that while not incredibly powerful should be enough for medium-intensity metal cutting jobs.The good news is that the compressor sustains this steady flow (at around 1.75bar) nicely, it does heat-up a bit over time so as others have mentioned I will probably install a fan over it in my final setup.
I now need to design a piece to attach the airbrush head to the spindle mount, and then proceed with some test cuts.
Julien, if this fails or is not meeting your needs, I was thinking that when I decide that I need an air blast for long periods of time, I would consider a Centrifugal Brushless Cooling Fan like this where I would 3D print a funnel type adaptor to push the air through a tube. I saw a YT video where someone made a fan similar to this and was able to use it as a leaf blower to move sawdust on the shop floor at high velocity. You can also add a speed control for the fan to modulate the airstream. The 50X50mm fan noise level is below 25db and produces 15 to 30CFM, probably more than one needs to move chips. As a bonus, placing the fan above the router (for those of us who do not yet have a water-cooled spindle, could also act as a cooling fan for the router.
Interesting idea. I had a look at the “air pressure versus air flow” curves for these fans, unsurprisingly the CFM drops to almost nothing when pressure raises, so I guess one would have to keep a large enough 3D-printed duct. Or not duct at all, just aim the fan output at the endmill and see what happens. At a few bucks a piece, it’s worth trying anyway, so I ordered a similar one and will test that whenever it arrives. If somehow a 2.5$ dollar setup worked well enough, then so be it !
And if it fails, I can still use it as a cooling fan for my air brush compressor
I’m not quite there yet, but my airbrush-based air blast setup is slowly taking shape. I shamelessly copied @BartK’s excellent idea to use the airbrush itself as the air nozzle, since this is what grants the best airflow/pressure result (I used the 0.3mm nozzle), and it generates a very focused air flow which is good too.
I ended up hacking the locline from my previous (cheap) mister, and I am not using the air hose inside it anymore, I just use it for holding and orienting the airbrush. The diameter of the rear (removed) part of the airbrush happened to be the same 1/4G as the locline.
To hold the locline to the frame, I printed a small block with three screws and one 1/4G threaded hole on the side. Oh my, the satisfaction of just selecting “Hole => tap => BSP pipe threads => 1/4G” in Fusion360 menu, 3D printing the piece with no special care, and screwing that locline in with a perfect fit on first try…priceless.
I have not removed the little paint bottle/tank yet, I want to figure out if this could somehow be used with a water/alcohol mix inside to use more than just air.
In the meantime, the fan arrived so I have some Fusion360 fun ahead of me to design a duct for this, to explore @luc.onthego’s recommendation:
I tried to find the original video without success but from memory, the nozzle was going straight from the fan to a 1/2in or so diameter. Maybe you can go to 1/4in and cut back if needed as it may restrict the flow too much for the fan but it is easier to cut a bit if you need a larger diameter than to add material after the fact.
@Julien looks very similar to my previous setup that was working flawlessly. You could certainly use the small water jar/tank but you’ll find yourself needing to refill it too often. I just used (believe it was 4mm ID hose) rubber hose to extended it and now I can cut for hours with worrying about it.
@Julien What in the world is this black housing you have around your spindle? Is it your Spindle Mount? I’m using the HD 80mm Spindle Mount from Cabide. Also, what is the little clear reservoir that you got attached to your air mist?
