Shoebox compressor parts

Mike,

I think the reason that you are not getting any water droplets at your separator is because none is getting to it - remember that the Shoebox flows very little air: 10 CF per hour (the rating of the F10) is only 0.16 per minute, and when compressed to ~100 psi that 0.16 is only about 0.02 CFM of compressed air flow. I only ever get water in my separators when I am running very high air flows, as the air eventually ends up "hot" through the whole manifold system right up to the tool - usually an air powered grinder. I don't even find an issue with most air nailers or impact wrenches due to the intermittent use by just one person (crews, like with roofing, is another matter - but I don't do that).

So you are probably good already, but one good trick you could do it run your shop compressor well before you use the Shoebox - fill it and then let the air cool and condense out the water for a long while. In my case, I keep my shop compressor pressurized all the time - I only drain it fully once or twice a year (but I do blow out the condensate every month or so, or after heavy use). I want pressurized air ready to go when I need it for whatever I am doing, even if just blowing dust out of things. It is no problem for the compressor either, at least in my book - once used, a shop compressor's tank will never fully be dry ever again. I agree it is bad to have a bunch of standing water in it, but we never get all of it out, so there will always be some liquid water in it, and the RH in the tank will always be 100% even after the very first cycle. My first shop compressor lasted over 25 years before I replaced it, and even then it still worked fine - I just wanted something quieter. I now have a bigger one what holds 26 gallons of air between 125 and 175 psi for it's cycle - it does not need to come on when running the Shoebox for any less than about 2 hours, depending on how full it was at the start.

Thanks again Alan!

I have just added another 30 feet of coiled hose to the run feeding the Box, that totals close to 70 feet now, including the 2 coiled sections.
I too blow out the 20 gallon tank a few time annually, still never get a drop out of that either. Overall, I may have the moisture issue mitigated already, but not going to change the set up unless it does become an issue....not likely.
So, my latest quest is to mitigate any heat issues with the Box, thus the small radiator and water pump. Still needs experimenting and verification that it does cool the cylinders enough to make longevity better between resealing intervals.
ALL good conversations in this thread and thanks to all for commenting/suggesting.

Mike

Mike, Alan and everyone else thanks for sharing your knowledge, experiences and advice. Hopefully these SB's will be good to us for several more years. This is my air supply set up for my SB, maybe a little overkill. I also live where it's nice and dry most of the time, so I'm not too concerned, especially after Alan's thoughts on the moisture that is entering our SB's from the shop compressor. My shop compressor is a 30gal that really don't have to cycle on very many times, over say an hour's period. From the discharge of the SC the air has to travel up about 4' of pvc, then into the bottom of coalescer, up and out to a couple of more filters. I've actually never caught any water at all in the bottom of the PVC leg, the coalescer or the other two filters so I think I'm good to go.

I'm still going to test my little radiator to see if it helps dissipate some of the heat. I have noticed on a hot day, which is very normal in SoCal, the high-pressure moisture separator gets pretty warm, I assume from the heat produced by the pistons/cylinders. Temperature-wise, where I live is in the high 90° to a tad over 100° during the summer. The winter, while cooler, still has many mid-80° days. Those are normally the dry, non-humid days, days that I fill because they are dry.
I was able to at least minorly test my radiator today with water and blue ice. This produced a consistent 57° air temperature inside the Box. This without running the Box, only the fan and water pump. The outside (my garage) ambient temperature was 69° this morning, so at least I have proven to myself that there seems to be merit for cooling purposes.
I also tried slowing the air passing over the cylinders by blocking the holes that I drilled, that made the improvement per the above. I'm sure that there is a happy medium of exhaust holes and I will work toward that soon....there is enough leakage around the Box holes as it is, I was just trying to keep the cool air inside long enough to do the job.
More to follow.
Mike

Okay. I went shooting today and thought that this would be my test day.
I set the large tank up for a fill, inserted 4, 1 pound Pelican blue ice packs inside the water reservoir and let her rip. The outside ambient temperature upon start-up was at 81°, the air temperature inside the Box started at 61°, so cooling okay.
I watched the temperature periodically throughout the fill, which took about 50 minutes from 3,900PSI to 4,300PSI. It was rising of course.
Once the Box shut itself off, I turned off the fan and radiator to see what the air temperature was without the cooling aid, registered 105°.
I then turned the fan and radiator back on and the temperature dropped to 82°.
During the cooling down process, taking about 10 minutes, the temperature continued to drop to 70°, then stop.
After shutting everything down and removing the 4 pounds of blue ice, it was all melted, total liquid. This tells me that I need a larger heat sink in order to keep up with the ambient temperature when it's hot, like 85°. I'm using a small, insulated cooler for the water and ice by the way, but the cooler isn't the best with only about a half-inch of insulation on the sides, none on bottom or top.
I believe that this little experiment actually worked rather well considering the 85° ambient temperature and with the added heat load only producing 105° max air inside the Box housing.
I'm gonna stretch this further and see what a larger reservoir and more ice does for me (luckily, I already have the ice for coolers).

Great results and we appreciate the effort and the test.

jking --=--
Thank you for the interest.
I was able to top-off my tank again today. Different condition weather-wise. Ambient was at 71° this afternoon, humidity at 15% (or lower).
I ran the Box for about 40 minutes to top-off from 3,950PSI to 4,300PSI. Starting temperature in the Box was a cool 61°.
Using a larger blue ice, plus reducing the amount of water to keep the tank cooler, it didn't melt as fast and kept the temperature inside the Box at a cool 95° to fill end.
Understanding that the ambient temperature was only 71° versus the above 85°, it seems to work rather well.
More to come, I enjoy experimenting!
Mike

Mike,

While it's definitely clear that the radiator set up cools the air flowing into the box, I have to wonder if it would be better to simply run the Shoebox with the cover off and a high capacity fan blowing over the cylinders. That would keep the "air in the box" basically to ambient - I honestly can't say if that would be better or worse than having air that is cooler (but lower in airflow) entering the box right at the cylinders. The only way to know for sure would be to measure the cylinder temperature directly in both conditions.

I can say that I run mine with the cover off and high ambient airflow, but it is in my basement and ambient is usually no higher than 68F. The hottest I measure my cylinders (via an IR sensor) is 85F. Anyways, that is one data point . . .

AlanMcD --=--

Yep, that's how I would normally run my Box, no cover with a large-ish table fan blowing air from right to left, along with the original Box fan through the back.
Don't get me wrong, it seemed to work okay. I just thought that perhaps it might be best to run a tad cooler to mitigate any possible over-heating issues with O-Rings and plasticized spacers (I did have a melted spacer, thus my thoughts).
And remember that in most cases during the warmer months especially, a non-humid day is usually in the high nineties to low one hundreds temperature range wise.
I also plan to take the cylinder temperature once I can figure out a good way of doing so while it's filling. Missing the crank arm is problematic for instance. I'll get it sorted out and letcha know.
Thank you for the strong suggestion however.

Mike

I remember someone posting about using some sort or air nozzle from the pressure coming off of a shop compressor. I can't remember what the topic was that brought it up, but I'd bet it had something to do with cooling a HP compressor. Might make the shop compressor run more than you'd like though depending on the size.

PS, did a quick google search and I think they are vortex cooling tubes.

jking --=--
I'll check that out at the very least.
My shop compressor only pops on once during fills due to the minimum top-off range of around 3,800PSI up to 4,300PSI. Since I can top-off often enough I can maintain that short PSI range, equals short duration.
Thanks for the tip!
Mike

Pick up this replacement belt just to have on hand….

^^^^For sure. I have three extra belts (OCD?).
You can also cut the small angled sheet metal below the air hose opening to make it a 'mousehole', eliminating the need to remove the air hose. It's very easy to do.
Mike

jking --=--

I did check out the suggested information on using the pressure coming off of the shop compressor. By my search, it appears that using the shop compressor for that purpose is not very productive. Plus, it would likely keep the shop compressor running longer, possibly producing more moisture due to that fact.
Thanks for the suggestion none the less, much appreciated!
Mike

Please refer to the now dedicated thread....

"Shoebox cooling radiator continued from "Shoebox Compressor Parts" Thread"​

I've order parts through OCO Labs but this time I'm not getting any replies. Does anyone have a phone number for them?

jking --=--

I just emailed Zack at OCO the other day and it took him two days to reply. From what I understand, they have cut back on workers/hours, so that may be the reason and new mode of operation?
Try emailing Zack, he will eventually reply....I think.
[email protected]
Also, what parts are you needing? They only have .125" pistons/cylinders and inner spacers. Belts, motor gears, switches, etc. Nothing for the larger diameter cylinder/piston.
Good luck!

Mike