Shop air

[Crusarius]

can't you just tighten the fitting a little more to turn the QD to flat or slightly up?

[scsmith42]

Looking good MS!  That was a nice score on the compressor and dryer.

I've heard only good things about the RapidAir system, and would not hesitate to use it.

My own shop is old school - black pipe infrastructure with a 10HP IR 30 CFM compressor that I scored new for $500 (it was a Home Depot factor return because it had gotten damaged during shipment.  A forklift slightly bent, and scraped the paint off of the cage housing around the belts...).  

I had to design an unloader valve system for the compressor head so that my 30hp RPC would start the compressor under pressure in the winter.  In the summer I was fine but the thicker oil added enough resistance where the RPC just didn't have enough "oomph" to get her revved up.  

Your setup definitely looks sweet!

[metalspinner]

Update on an upgrade...
This compressor has been working really well for me. But I am hyper concerned the noise level will upset the neighbors, so I would only have the compressor operational when I would actually be using it.
Remember, I am in a residential setting.
My compressor guy came over with the muffler this week and I was able to install it yesterday.
This does 2 things for me, the first is is quiets down the compressor and the second is that it sucks air from further away from the pump. This air is much cooler and keeps the pump temp lower.



 

I'm rethinking the ceiling mount. Maybe I'll move it to the back wall?




 

And a couple of screenshots from the decibel meter readings. I was standing just 8' in front of the pump.

Before the muffler...



 


After the muffler...






But what do these readings mean? I knew I could definately hear a difference, but the readings look so similar?? So I looked it up.
It turns out that a 3dB change is twice (or half in my case) the sound difference. So this muffler halved the sound from my compressor! 8) 8)

[doc henderson]

It also appears to have changed the frequency which may change the level of sound perceived.

[Andries]

That sounds like a comment about my wife's voice. 

[rusticretreater]

Moving it to the back wall would improve aesthetics and also allow you to provide additional support to the tubes so they don't put so much pressure on the end fittings. These things vibrate a lot.

Sound is one of those funny things like electricity.  There is sound and in the case of the compressor, the pulse wave from the motor that the sound rides on.  Simply releasing the pulse wave in a controlled manner reduces the force behind the wave and thus reduces the sound level.  This also decreases the distance the pulse wave travels as it is not as sharp and powerful, to your neighbors benefit. This often produces a backpressure in the system which also softens vibrations to a degree. And as noted above, the muffler can also capture some of the higher frequencies of the sound which are particularly grating to the ear.

[metalspinner]

Rusticretreater,
With my garage door open, I can view my neighbors house about 150 yards away. The sound of the compressor isn't very loud there, but I can feel/hear a ricochet off there house. This is without the muffler. I'll need to get out there today to see. 
And most of this sound comes from the air filter cartridges both of which point outside the garage door. 

[Brad_bb]

I've owned two air compressors in my life, Both Champion.  The first was a 3hp 60gal that was rebuilt.  I had it for 25-30 years.  I replaced it not because there was anything wrong, I just wanted to go bigger to a 7.5hp (can't remember off hand if it's 80 or 100 or 120 gal).  The champions have cast iron blocks so they can be fixed/rebuilt if needed.  I'd never buy a box store compressor with the aluminum blocks.  Those are not worth rebuilding etc. and I've seen those fail. 

[Walnut Beast]

I've got a Eaton Polar Air compressor that has the whisper air that the owner patented that is a big chamber on the side of the unit that acts as your air filter and has hoses that go up to where the air filters originally go and it is absolutely amazingly whisper quiet!!!

 

 

[Al_Smith]

I don't know how many I've cobbled together from  parts and pieces .At the moment my latest endeavor is a Speed Aire compressor two stage on a 120 gallon tank with a 10 HP three phase motor .I'll need to cobble another phase converter together to run it because all I have now is a 5 HP rotary I built up .It's a back burner project because I don't really need it .
The slickest one was using a smog pump from a Ford with a 1/2 HP single phase motor .It would put out around 110 PSI and you could blow up a tractor tire but it just took a little time to do it .It didn't even have a tank on it just a check valve .Nothing to it ,clip it on ,plug it in and sit on a 5 gallon bucket and enjoy a barley pop .--it ain't rocket science ---- ;)