Air compressor questions?

[Ben Frain]

I have a friend who owns a farm and has an air compressor on the back of his tractor which he fills 230bar air tanks with. I think he uses the air for cutting steel etc

Can this compressor produce the right air and presure to fill Paintball tanks with? Presumably once one of the 230bar tanks is full, a paintball tank could be filled from that?

What other pieces of equipment will be needed? I would imagine a 'fill station' to convert the adapter from the air tank to the nipple on the air tank (e.g. Angel AIR)? Anything else?

What are the dangers etc of doing this - any good tutorials/references online?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Philip]

232 bar is about 3000 psi, so it will be quite a good fill.

All you will need is a fill station, and check with him to make sure it is safe.

 

[Ben Frain]

Originally posted by Philip
232 bar is about 3000 psi, so it will be quite a good fill.

All you will need is a fill station, and check with him to make sure it is safe.

LOL! Hi Philip, yes it was the 'safe' bit I was most concerned about! His tanks just lie in a field all night and were looking a bit rusty!

What's the actual procedure for filling a) from compressor to 230 bar air tank and b) from 230 bar air tank to Paintball (Angel AIR) bottle?

Is there a step by step anywhere on the net?

 

[Billy No Mates]

HOLD ON A SEC!!!

if its a farm compressor, it will be producing Industrial grade air. NOT breathing grade air that we use in paintball.

at campaign this year the compressors were giving industrial grade air which contained small shavings of metal and dirt in it .
this caused numerous problems in regs for the first 2 days.

if you can filter it, then give it a go. but if not, your AIR would probably do better without it

 

[Ben Frain]

Bugger!

So it seems, that the only sensible way of getting a fill is...

a) buying a 'fill station' and taking your Paintball bottle to a dive shop?

b) buying a dive tank and fill station and getting your dive tank filled at a dive shop and go from dive tank to Paintball bottle yourself?

How do you filter the air from one of those compressors? Or is a different type of compressor needed?

 

[Billy No Mates]

damn, a question beyond my mental capacity.

dunno mate. Ask at a dive shop. If they fill bottles thats the kinda stuff theyll know.

 

[pupster01]

the only real difference between industrial and breathing air in this case is how clean it is and water content. so all you would need is a filtering system

your local dive shop should be able to help you on that one.if it costs you a few pounds then you could always fill dive tanks to make the cash back. (check on how ithis is done before you try).

P.S. if its for tools they normally run at 100 - 200 psi not bar so id check that before you look to deeply into this.

 

[Skeet]

Hello.
The site where I work is thinking of going over to air for the hire guns and getting a compressor. They cost a poo load!
Ive been offerd a s/h high capacity one with two 65l "banks" (to fill with the compressor then de-cant into bottles) for £4000 and thats cheap.
Your best bet is to get a 300 bar divers tank and fill station (DIN fitting [screw in] not A-CLAMP this is for 232 bar tanks) and get it filled at a good dive shop that can do 300bar fills.
And de-cant to your own bottle. The procedure is as follows:
- Attach tank on gun to snap connector on fill station via nipple (the one on the reg, not your own!)
- Make sure the reg on/off (if it has one) is off.
- Slowly open the main valve on the divers tank and watch your gauges on the reg. If you fill your bottle too quick its not good for the valve and will heat the bottle up, resulting in a lower pressure in the bottle once it has cooled. You will hear the air flowing through into the bottle, when this stops the pressure is equal in both bottles and will fill no more. Check your guage.
If the tank preassure is greater than the max fill preassure of your bottle, watch your guage and close the valve as it approches your fill pressure.
- Once filled close main valve, and bleed off excess air. The bleed, will either be a spring loaded button on a DIN 300bar fill station or a thumb screw on a 232bar A-Clamp.
Look after your bottle, dont let anything fall on the valve or whatever coz these things are FAPPIN dangerous if they go pop!!
Im sure you know that tho.
Hope this helps.
Gaz