Air compressor for darkroom
Manny Bhuta
in darkroom? I just bought three cans of Dust-Off
and was surprised at the price. Because I spend
an awful lot of time in my darkroom, I think an
investment is a good air compressor is worthwhile.
I would like the compressor to be as quiet and as
small as possible.
Thanks in advance.
--
Manny Bhuta
Randolph, NJ USA
Francis A. Miniter
A good air compressor is a thing of utility forever. The one mistake I
made in building my house 12 years ago was not pre-piping it for an air
compressor. If circumstances permit, the best thing to do is to splurge
and get a standup air compressor and put it in a corner of a garage with
a hose or pipe going through the walls to your darkroom. One reason for
this is that a good air compressor is not quiet, at least its motor is
not quiet. Everything else is silent.
If like many photographers, you also enjoy woodworking, you will find
endless tools to attach to it. And it takes various paint guns for
painting of house and auto, not to mention filling those semi-deflated
tires.
Granted, for photographic purposes only, you do not need what I am
advocating. But if you can rationalize it, ... .
Francis A. Miniter
Michael A. Covington
the darkroom -- most air compressors get some oil droplets into the air!
Scott Carl
filtration and are often used for airbrushes.
- Scott -
Michael A. Covington <See http://www.CovingtonInnovations.com for address>
wrote in message news:8g28p1$rv7$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net...
Joseph Meehan
from where you will be working. That way it is very quiet. You really do
want a compressor that will give you clean air. This is not the problem it
use to be as there are now oilless type compressors easily available today.
If you are not able to put a large compressor away from the dark room
(garage is a great place and you also get compressed air for work on your
car.) then look at the hobby shops or some large home improvement stores for
a small compressor designed for air brush. They are fairly quiet, produce
clean air and should work well.
--
Joe M
26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish math
Ralf R. Radermacher
> Bear in mind that filtering is needed when you are using compressed air in
> the darkroom -- most air compressors get some oil droplets into the air!
There's a great choice of oil-free compressors on the market, nowadays.
These have PTFE cylinder linings and do not require any lubrification.
But do BEWARE of the usual garden variety air pistols! All of them have
been assembled with a small amount of grease which is blown out over the
first few weeks and can do a lot of damage to your precious negs. The
better examples can be taken apart and cleaned before using them for our
kind of work.
I've been using one of those oil-free compressors for about two years,
in my basement darkroom. Wouldn't want to be without it, anymore,
especially as there is no glassless neg carrier available for my
enlarger (Agfa Varioskop).
A recent and extremely useful addition has been a 25 litre pressure
vessel complete with pressure regulator, practically the same as the one
being part of the actual compressor. This now resides in my upstairs
computer room and is of great help in blowing dust off my negs before
scanning them. About once a day, I take it down to the basement to
refill it. Rarely twice, and that's on really busy days. And it can be
used for all kinds of other purposes, too, like blowing up car tires
even in places where there isn't any electricity.
Not to mention the great savings and the knowledge that I'm not
poisoning myself or the environment with some kind of harmful canned
gas.
Oh, and almost I forgot one: The hissing of the compressed air is great
for keeping the cats away from the neg scanner. :)
Cheers,
Ralf
--
Ralf R. Radermacher - DL9KCG - Köln/Cologne, Germany
Ralf's Cologne Tram Page - www.netcologne.de/~nc-radermra
e-mail from trash accounts (deja, yahoo) automatically rejected
JW
Scott Carl wrote:
> Try to find a good used Medical Grade compressor. They have internal
> filtration and are often used for airbrushes.
>
> - Scott -
>
> Michael A. Covington <See http://www.CovingtonInnovations.com for address>
> wrote in message news:8g28p1$rv7$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net...
Georges Giralt
>
> Which is the best air compressor made for use
> in darkroom? I just bought three cans of Dust-Off
> and was surprised at the price. Because I spend
>
> Thanks in advance.
> --
Hello !
If you're in a budget, may I suggest something ?
Try to find a fridge compressor (second hand, they are expensive new...)
They are quiet, and quite powerful.
Next you've do do some work on it. First you have to find the pipe used
to put oil on it at the factory (as they run in "closed circuit" they
never need to be replenished in their normal use). The fridge repairmen
will help ....
Next try to buy, second hand, some truck air cylinders (used, in Europe,
for the brake system) And the more expensive part is a de oiler filter
from machinery suppliers. You can re use the oil out from the de oiler
unit to replenish the compressor :)... When air get compressed, force it
to the de-oiler unit, next to the air cylinder. Use this cylinder as a
ballast or as a can of compressed air, at your convenience. Bear in mind
that no cylinder can hold an infinite pressure, so be sure to use a
pressure sensitive device to cut the mains on the compressor as these
can go really high on such machines (especially with the new fridge
using CFC free gasses to prevent for ozone leak)
Using such an apparatus is invaluable, as home made, it is easy to split
in your darkroom to fit some ugly shaped space left off during install.
The compressor is _really_ silent as it is used at a more decent
pressure than in a fridge. The drawback is that it is slow to fill a 30
to 50 liter tank. Allow it to run overnight if needs arose ;)
Of course, a cylinder blast could be really dangerous ! So DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO DO THIS YOURSELF IF YOU ARE NOT REALLY SURE OF WHAT YOU ARE
DOING. In such a case doing it yourself could be a false saving unless
you have an insurance for your relatives ....
Mine was made out an old west german fridge, very silent, I used a
Cylinder from a Volvo Truck (quite new, the truck was destroyed beyond
repair in an accident, so no rust to care...) some tubing, and a
pressure sensitive switch I can check regularly, some copper tubing,
dans some pvc (coil type ) tubing to go next to my enlarger.
Enjoy!!
--
Georges Giralt L.D. : +33 (0)5 62 74 85 31
Alcatel TITN Answare Fax : +33 (0)5 61 49 02 14
82 Route de Bayonne Std : +33 (0)5 62 74 84 84
31300 Toulouse
Manny Bhuta
my request. I ordered an air compressor from
Porter's. Now I am just hoping that it is a good
piece of equipment.
--
Manny Bhuta
Randolph, NJ USA
________
Ralf R. Radermacher
> My sincere thanks to many helpful responses to
> my request. I ordered an air compressor from
> Porter's. Now I am just hoping that it is a good
> piece of equipment.
Oil-free?
Gordon LaVere
never have had oil or water problem. I do keep it in the houseand in
basement. Then I run a hose across the room to the dark room. Works Great.
Now the rest of the story. Before the compressor I bought from a auto supply
store a 9 gallon tank for filling auto tires. They come with pressure gauge
( Not regulator). It can take up to 125# pounds I do find this a little
strong. That is the max safe for this tank. Beside I never found 125 # at
any gas station. Most are 80-90 # and that is just fine. Fill it up to the
max but don't excede 125#. You can use this for months and months and fill
up your bike or car tires.
You will need to buy an air gun it come with a tip for filling tires.
The one I have has about 3" brass tip great for those hard to reach negs. I
bought all quick disconects and a 10' Rubber ( NOT plastic) hose, rubber is
much more flexable. For a few dollars more you can also get a regulator to
limit to about 30-40 #. Only other suggestion is to purge the airline at
the filling station to dump the moisture. Just push in the plunger for a few
seconds you will see what I mean.
Or you could just fill it up at home with you home compressor and no noise
while working.
Gordon
"Georges Giralt" <georges...@alcatel.fr> wrote in message
news:392A9796...@alcatel.fr...
jw&a inc.
and fit the caps with valve stems. we used them as rockets and one fellow
used to fill them up to 125#. i used to get scared at 70 to 80psi, though.
the bottles would have an adavatage in that you could see if there was
anything in them. you could also fill them with a bicycle pump to 40 or 50
psi...
i think after i use up my supply of canned air, i'm going to look at
compressors designed for air brushes, with the idea of buying an airbrush
later.
bob rogers
anderson, south carolina
Gordon LaVere <gola...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:7cBX4.5785$hL1.3...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...