Info on max air

[E.Hi.Divers]

I'm lookin for feed back on a max air 5.5 . I'm thinking of buying. If anyone had one? Dependabaly? And all that. I do about 500, 600 fills a yr. thanks

 

[widget]

I may be wrong, but looking at the MAX AIR range, it appears to be a Coltri Sub block unit.? - built into a custom housing.
I am pretty sure someone here can confirm, or correct me on that.?

If it is, Coltri Sub has a good name internationally and the units are fairly well recieved in the market, I dont believe there is any inherant fault with these units.

Certainly the unit is quite capable of 5-600 fills annually.

 

[PinkPADIgal]

I would buy from Coltri Sub directly. Ray lurks on this forum is a sales rep and can answer all the questions you may have.

I purchased my shop compressor from Max Air and I was disappointed with the customer service. I have talked about them on other threads (see history) and at this point, I would buy the same compressor again, but would do so directly from Coltri Sub.

 

[Joseph A. Daugherty]

I have a Max air 35. I converted it to a 220 electric from the honda motor since I fill my tanks at home. Their a nice reliable compressor but they have the smallest air filter.
..at $50 per cartridge it adds up. It took me awhile to work it all out but I make repackable air filter housings for it. Buying the media in bulk I don't mind changing the filter often - I know I pushed it too far before. I sell them on ebay-but if you want to email me I will describe how I make them and your welcome to try yourself.
(jackiedae@earthlink.net)

 

[widget]

Repacking filters is an interesting point. We go through an enormous number of filters in our commercial operation and Bauer filters must be one of the most expensive around, so we are always on the look out for a good quality cheaper filter.

Repacking filters is not an option for us as we are tested for air purity on a random basis and I am loathe to take the risk of an incident from a badly packed filter (is there such a thing?)

I understood repacking had to be done in some kind of sterile enviroment,but your post makes me think it could be something you can do in your kitchen at home, is this the case?

I know the materials used and it dosnt appear to be rocket science to pack them if you have a useable tube, but is there a possibility of an incident of bad air, if, for example, a varying amount of dessicant was used to the original, or some other such "hand packing issue"?

 

[pescador775]

Widget,
Repacking costs about 1/5 price of buying cartridges. A chemical filter may contain one, two or three media plus some packing wads. Using an electric compressor, the minimum requirement is desiccant and chemical adsorber (activated charcoal). A typical hand pack would contain 60% drier and remainder charcoal. Some three tier filters also contain a CO catalyst called monoxycon, or similar. The sequence in line with flow direction is desiccant, catalyst, charcoal. Use felt pads or other wad to separate. Careful with the catalyst, it may be mildly toxic. Use normal care, no clean room, mask/gloves optional. Pack the stuff fairly tight before closing the can. I might be able to help with the estimate of the change cycle but it is a little tricky as the desiccant effectiveness is temp dependant. Try duplicating the mfgr setup if possible, and use their info. Charcoal lasts a long time. Your change cycle will be determined by the moisture. Twice as much desiccant will double the change cycle interval, probably.

 

[widget]

Hi Pescador, thanks for the info, yes we run 2 x Bauer K14 units with electric motors, into a bank and decant from there. Then just top up the cylinders from the compressor.

The compressors are fitted with the standard Bauer filter set up with the "Securis" monitering system, (switches the unit off when the filter is spent) - when you say the life of the charcoal depends on the moisture, I assume you mean the "humidity" of the air? - now its fairly dry (winter) so the filters last longer but in summer when its wet filter usage can increase by 20%.

Is there somewhere you buy the empty cartridges Pescador? I have herd some people just open the original one, empty out the dessicant etc and refill, but it appears one has to do a bit of a "job" to re-seal?

The media seems to be readily available, but those toobs.............kinda worries me, I would hate one to burst or something - is that even possible.?

I dont know too much about the filteration systems as you can gather, so please excuse my ignorance if I sound like I am chasing up the wrong tree.

I hope, I have not "hijacked" the post, as it sort of started as a question on Max Air, again I apologise if it is so.

John.

 

[pescador775]

Charcoal is fairly tolerant of moisture. However, if it gets soaked the wet carbon will signal with an odor of its own. No, I was referring to moisture capacity of the desiccant which will be the determining factor with respect to change outs of the cartridge. Yes, again, to the possibility of plastic cartridges cracking or breaking. The flexing caused by pressure differentials inside the canister can lead to this. It is better to fabricate a metal cartridge complete with O rings. I'm not familiar with the system to which you refer so cannot advise on design of the replacement cartridge. I made a couple of cartridges for my portable compressor. Sections of 2 inch aluminum tube were cut to replace the original plastic. The plastic end caps were originally glued in place. The caps were salvaged and fitted to the aluminum pipe with O rings. Pretty simple, really. Well, with one of the units the bottom cap was ditched; it was fitted with "fins" and consequently took up room unnecessarily. I was able to get a bit more room by making an aluminum disc with vent holes which was then soldered to the bottom with Allumaloy. Since there is a possibility of the top cap popping off, a spring was placed on this cap and held in tension by screwing in the canister top.

 

[widget]

Okay, interesting.

The original filters are in aluminium form, I think we can remove the top by just cutting it off and manufacturing another top with a kind of lip which will slide down say 10mm into the tube and we can hold the top in place by pinning the two pieces (tube and lid) together - I am just thinking aloud here, I will have to do a bit of experimenting, but fortunately I have dozens of used cartridges to fiddle on.

Would it be an issue if I posted a picture of the filter here for you to look at? Or is there another forum to do that? I actually havent had time to look around the whole board.

I will try and take a quick shot with my mobile tomorrow and see if I can post it in the evening, I must say though I have trouble just using a mobile at the best of times, so posting a picture may be a little beyond me, but I will try.

I am getting kind of excited, I enjoy the idea of seeing if I can get it right.

 

[pescador775]

Post the pic in this room. Start a new thread, for example, need help with filter mod.