I Has Fridge Compressor But No Skillz

[POLAND_SPUD]

hmm that's cheap...
though, IMO it's more complicated than air cooling...

just get a plastic bucket, put the compressor in it and find a way to attach a fan to it (ideally one that's slightly more powerful than all those cheap CPU fans)
and that's it

I haven't tested it yet but I put it together (no pics sorry I'll update later).

ohh BTW I also moved the whole setup to a more remote location so you wouldn't have to see the same scenery in all my vids

[joepage2008x2]

Im going to get an old CO2 tank for my compressor, probably take about a year to fill it. I forgot about how hot they get though.
I think it will be very hard to cool one down without any physical heatsink contact, and making a curved heatsink can be very hard without the right tools.
Why not get about 30ft of tubing, wrap it around your compressor and pass water through it, wont look pretty but its a cheap and easy way of doing it.
Or a dangerous way of doing it, coat all the electricals with epoxy resin and chuck the compressor in a bucket of water that will keep it cool

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Or a dangerous way of doing it, coat all the electricals with epoxy resin and chuck the compressor in a bucket of water that will keep it cool

Or better still, in oil it works mate!

[POLAND_SPUD]

sure you can immerse it in oil and all that kind of stuff... I agree that it would probably work best

but air cooling & fans work too and that's just less of a hassle... I know it seems surprising but fans really work... just don't expect a wimpy 0.5W fan to do the job really well... you need something more powerful

probably take about a year to fill it

not really, it takes about 10 minutes to fill ~ 9-10L to 100 psi with a fridge compressor... I don't have an AC compressor but it should do it much faster

EDIT
that's what I have in mind.. most of it is already done

[psycix]

Ultimate cooling: pump the compressor oil through a radiator.


You could also take the compressor out of the casing. Makes it less heavy too.

[POLAND_SPUD]

@psycix

You could also take the compressor out of the casing. Makes it less heavy too

I am afraid you can't... you'd have oil flying everywhere...
plus the casing serves quite a lot of other useful functions too

Ultimate cooling

ultimately complicated ? yes

I believe that a simple fan can provide good enough cooling to allow to run the compressor continuously...

[MrCrowley]

just don't expect a wimpy 0.5W fan to do the job really well

I believe my fan is 6 watts and it has already taken a chunk of my finger

Personally i'm thinking of using a tool box for an enclosure, comes with a handle, will look good and give me plenty of room.

At a local car repair store they have an aluminium manifold which has five 1/4" threaded ports on it, hope it can survive 500PSI because it would be perfect for this (it seems a little thin). 1 port connects to the compressor, one to the gauge, one to the bleed valve, one to the fill valve for a cannon and one to the fill valve for a tank.

[POLAND_SPUD]

yeah sorry that 0.5W was just a guess... anyway that's not the point, the point is that you can easily get more powerful fans... 50W or 100W fans do not have to be large

there is not reason to build a cooling system that is so complicated that it costs more than the compressor itself... there are other things that are worth adding in the long run and are more important... like a tank or air filter/oil&water separator

an aluminium manifold

good thinking...

[MrCrowley]

Today I got a tool box for the enclosure ($12), a compression fitting ($5) and the aluminium manifold ($15). Went all over the place and for a metre long 1/4" hose rated to at least 500PSI with male brass BSP 1/4" fittings on the end will cost between $55-$66 from 3 places ($40-48USD).

On top of that I still need a gauge, probably another $40.

My understanding is that you can use normal air compressor Quick Connects (rated to about 200PSI) as long as you don't connect or disconnect them while there is 500PSI behind them, you use the bleed valve and then disconnect them.

[theBOOM]

Crowley can you post a pic of your compressor wired to the socket cable?
By that I mean can you post a pic of the actual connections and how you wired it up?

[MrCrowley]

I would rather not take the cover off again as it is a PITA to put back on (quite a lot stuffed in there with the switch and all) but I'll explain it to you.

Use this photo for reference:


The top 3 wires are the same as they are now, just with a different cable (but the colours in the cable are still the same).

Can't remember exactly how I wired the cellphone transformer (for the fan) and the switch. From what I remember the switch connects to the screw below the upper brown wire in the picture and the screw where the lower brown wire is. I then wired the fan so that it only turns on when the switch is on. Can't remember exactly but it is really easy to figure out if you have it in front of you.

I'm no electronic wizz, far from it, but it is quite logical if you think about it.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

ultimately complicated ? yes

says the DCV pneumatic circuit bloke

that's what I have in mind.. most of it is already done

Why not a metal bucket, it will be a radiator fin in its own right.

[POLAND_SPUD]

My understanding is that you can use normal air compressor Quick Connects

yes. Hydraulic ones would be better but they're more expensive

it will be a radiator fin in its own right

The bucket does not have any contact with the compressor... I think that high flow will be enough to do the job

[MrCrowley]

it will be a radiator fin in its own right

The bucket does not have any contact with the compressor... I think that high flow will be enough to do the job

Can get four for $20NZD:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =277561100

Tempting...

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

The bucket does not have any contact with the compressor

Well, it's bolted to it, right?

You could also mount an additional fan at the bottom of the bucket to accelerate the air even further, there are some nice 200mm fans available too



For very little outlay you can get yourself heatsinks and thermal paste (not as expensive as you suggested earlier) to festoon the compressor case with. Overkill, perhaps, but let's face it, if you're using a fridge compressor, you bloody well believe in overkill