Dragonheart
03-07-2016, 01:32 PM
For those that are first getting into powder coating and have decided to spray coat, one item that doesn't seem to get a lot of attention is the importance of having very dry air going to your gun. Since I live on the gulf Coast, humid air is a problem not only for tumble coating, but especially for spraying as the compressor condenses the moisture in the air into a lot of water deposited in the air storage tank. This translates to very wet air coming out of the tank and to my gun. There are commercial options for drying your air, such as the membrane filters shown on the left in the photo, but they are very expensive costing hundreds of dollars each.
My solution, although not necessarily a better option than membrane filters, but certainly much less expensive, is the pipe filter I made on the right, which works quite well. It is a 1-1/2" x 12" galvanized pipe nipple filled with desiccant and couple of cut sponges under the end caps. The caps were drilled and threaded for 1/4" pipe thread to accommodate the fittings.
162934
My solution, although not necessarily a better option than membrane filters, but certainly much less expensive, is the pipe filter I made on the right, which works quite well. It is a 1-1/2" x 12" galvanized pipe nipple filled with desiccant and couple of cut sponges under the end caps. The caps were drilled and threaded for 1/4" pipe thread to accommodate the fittings.
162934