How to modify your air compressor to run air tools or impact wrenches 

Yes good job on recognizing all the flow restrictions you corrected in the vid.! But sharp 90° "drilled" fittings are terribly restrictive! Even a standard threaded plumbing "elbow" is LESS restrictive than those "drilled" brass 90° fittings. I saw a 20 psi Increase in fuel pressure on a test engine fuel system after removing 4 sharp 90's & replacing them with a hose to make the bend. My ex-Navy mechanic co-worker friend showed me that (thanks Craig). Again on another test engines external oil system I suggested to my engineer to remove 3 sharp 90's & he got 14 psi Increase ! Air behaves like a fluid (examine/study Fluid Dynamics), so the more smoothing or elimination of bends the better! A helpful, educational,compressed air RU-vid channel is THE Compressor Guru, Bud Stiner, enjoy! Paul from S. Central Tx.

You sound like my mom.

Saw the same problems with the 90s. Air is a fluid and 90s restric the flow. If you want the regulator and separator in the same location take out the 90s and bend some copper pipe to a U bend over a larger radius with compression fitting on the outside of the pipe. You will have more flow.

New to compressors but having done quite a bit of plumbing, I always find it improves the water flow if sweeping- bends are used, those are less acute than the 90° bends which act as buffers. I think 1/2 copper pipe will take about 150psi.

@@jonnyshoestring9368 I agree! The larger & smoother the turn radius, the less restriction. On the video, he had eliminated many restrictions & improved air flow significantly. However several of us saw the worst restrictor 90° fittings possible in his new plumbing & suggested eliminating them for more improvement. I have cut several fittings in half (axially, in alignment with the flow direction), & was shocked to see those brass fittings were actually drilled internally! Any fluid, liquid or air slams into a wall & then tumbles around the sharp corner, losing velocity, pressure & thus volume downstream! Even a std. 90° NPT galvanized plumbing "pipe" elbow has a Radius inside it & is Less restrictive than those brass "drilled" 90°el's. I only used those in a non-flowthru application (like a gauge or pressure sensor), once I understood this. I understand you know this but I wish younger mechanics/plumbers could learn this too. About Compressors, a great RU-vid teacher is Bud Stiner on THE Compressor Guru! He has 41 years of compressed air systems design, upgrades, repair, rebuilds & water removal technology. Nice, funny guy & smart too! Cheers, Paul

I really like this idea. I'm going to modify my air pig and give this a try. Thanks !

You can't run an impact on a compressor like that. It's never going to be anywhere near what it's capable of. You're way better off purchasing a cordless battery powered impact it will work way better and give you way more power. In order to run these tools the way they're supposed to you need at minimum 5HP air pump those compressors run in the thousands of dollars... Good luck to you though!

Correct a small compressor say 20 gallon 5 hp could do wonders with anather 40 gallon tank added to it I see alot of guys do that for a complete paint job on a car

@@darrellsomers5427 extra tanks next to your compressor do wonders. But what's nice about having a booster tank right next to you with a short whip on it, is that you can put a larger diameter hose on it for running heavier tooling and you get extra impulse from the air in the close reservoir not having to push all the way down your long hoses. You might just need to take a moment every now and then when running tooling too big for your air system for the booster to recover

What size booster tank generally?

@@ifonlysolutions4011 mine is normally one of the little 3 gallon tanks. Just be advised that the tanks really aren't meant for that, so you might be voiding your warranty to take a portable tank and convert it to a booster tank.

The reason I done the video (I don't recall I said this in the video ) I had service done on the truck . Later I wanted to rotate my tires but I couldn't get the lugs loose with my impact gun. So I modified the large compressor so I can unscrew the lugs. Then for fun I wanted to see exactly where the bottle neck was and went thru the motions on video to get the CFM up on the older smaller machine as well. Just a few moments of good air flow is all you need sometimes to get really tight lugs loose. Also for occasional use impact guns this works fine. No need to spend several thousand dollars when a cheap modified compressor will do the job.

Right, right…. I get it… But dude, if my wife ever sees this, I’ll never be able to justify getting a newer, bigger compressor once I get my garage built. You’re killing me here!

@@mrimmortal1579 Tell your wife you NEED a bigger compressor , she will let you buy it.

@@joseaguinaga7670 sadly, that’s not how the game is played. What I’ll have to do is wait for a project that she wants completed, and then convince her that my older, smaller compressor isn’t up to the job, and that I can’t do it without a newer, bigger compressor. It will also help if I over-inflate (pun intended) the estimate for the project, so that it looks like the compressor costs much less than it really does. Then I just have to hope that she doesn’t see through my schemes. It’s all a very delicate and complex dance, and one wrong step can leave me turning a wrench by hand, like some kind of caveman.

Evil

I agree. When I build my shop, I’ll run a straight 1/2 inch straight copper pipe down the wall and right off into the work bay on a short 1/2 inch hose.

Larger piping and hoses make impacts run like a tire shop

Just don't use those Milton fittings. IIn a later video I use 3/8 fittings which are much much better. The Milton are too soft.

You just got to make sure the air flows out of the tank faster than the air tool is using it up. So by changing out the hoses, piping regulator and filter the air tool has the volume of air it wants. If your compressor CFM ("Horse Power") is lacking well you will a have to let the pressure build up for your next lug to remove. At least your running the gun at full power.

@@007connecticut Yes, it should be 3/8" I.D.; however, that is less concerned than PSI and CFM.

Wish my small 3 50 lt tank was bigger so i could use air tools don't have space for 100lt tank

@@007connecticut CFM is actually the volume of air or how much air is flowing, PSI is the pressure at which the air is compressed in the hose or the tank and the HP is an engine power metric used to fill in the tank and is unrelated to CFM.

@@kris8263 correct

And it's not really needed unless he's painting cars and then it's too damn close to the tank how he has it mounted...water forms as the air travels down the damn hose as it cools 😂 this guy is brain dead

What does Amsoil do for the compressor? I’ve only used it because it lasts longer

@@ZhmiKnopa cold weather start up is the claim to fame for northern people regular oil and its easy to pop breakers as they draw too much amps

ya need to be very careful about using copper for air lines. The copper you use MUST be rated for the pressure and the purpose AND correctly terminated.

@@soundman6645 I researched it pretty good, and copper pipe was the best. I used all "L" (blue) which is the hardest you can buy at the home centers. It was that vs PVC. I learned the PVC could burst and send shrapnel all over the place. Copper splits when it fails. What is the danger you find with copper?

@@raymondjackson6069 There are some very real dangers with incorrect copper. My friend Barry, used to contract air plumbing and compressor installations, for a large compressor company. Large company, large compressors. he quoted an installation and did not win the job. He was later called back to redo the work after, the low price job failed disasterously. A section of copper pipe fractured at full pressure. It flailed around, chopping everything in its way including timber roof trusses. It was very fortunate nobody died or was injured. The copper used was the incorrect product. He did a complete reinstall with the correct grade of copper and appropriately rated fittings. I would never use rigid PVC pipe. Galvanised steel pipe is easier for "do it yourselfers" to deal with. Buy the pipe sections pre threaded.

I have a small 900 sq ft shop and use a 7.5 HP 80 gallon compressor. I use type M coper with standard leadfree plumbing solder. 3/4 for the mainline coming from the compressor and 1/2" for the drops coming from the top of the mainline. It's relatively inexpensive and the fittings are available anywhere. It's also much easier to install than black iron pipe. The pipe acts like a radiator and sucks the heat out of the air too, so I do not have problems with moisture in my lines (I do a lot of blasting, cutting and grinding). I'm more than comfortable using it for my application (I did my research). Check out the copper institute's Copper Tube Handbook.

@@phillipvansickle4220 Wow, that's incredible. Mise is already 1/2" through and through, and so far it hasn't given me any problems. One guy was saying it (copper) could actually shatter. I never heard of that, but will beware. I DID NOT use PVC because of possible catastrophic rupture, via the internet grapevine. Having worked with PVC I could see that happening. Copper is a much better choice. GI is ok I guess, but it rusts eventually and will have to be replaced. Copper last and last, and though I have heard and seen it split, dur to freezing, been ok with air so far.

Great idea.

Did you have regular fittings on the 3/8 hose or high flow? I got a 3/8 x 25 hose from harbor freight making sure there aren't any restrictions inside the crimped on threaded ends and put high flow 1/4" fittings on the compressor, hose and the gun. The air volume and speed of the gun improved noticeably over the plain 1/4" brass fittings.

@@kris8263 Probably regular fittings. The 3/8 hose was either from Home Depot or came with the compressor and has original factory fittings. I also run the tools at about 100psi instead of 90psi to help account for the hose and fitting pressure losses.

True that most tools say 90psi , but that is worthless for impact guns and such , my gun will take off anything at 175psi , and almost nothing at 90psi. 2 stage compressor is best

@@JT-dx1qk The last pneumatic impact wrench I used was a Craftsman at a job I worked at from ‘93 to ‘99, and the stuff I used it on wasn’t torqued extremely tight.

Yes but as you saw the pressure drop was significant so really no need for a regulator, the tool is never gonna see the at tank pressure...I only use one when I spray cars

It's a good solid indicator of what the gun will do. Torque on flywheel bolts on a Volvo is 60 ft lbs and 120 degrees turn. My nitrocat 1250k on a 3/8s hose with 175psi struggles to make 60. 1/2 inch hose and it's still going at 120 degrees.

Get rid of the filter and all that junk

​@@aidenjanz2690 yep 👍 why he added that big ass filter makes no sense unless he's going to paint cars and then i use a little pussy one that doesn't require all that piping

Greetings!

All this extra equipment on his set up was causing pressure drop.

I didn't want to tap larger the outlet 1/4NPT thread, so the only 1/4 NPT thread on the compressor is the very first one. I then put an adapter fittings to go male 1/4 NPT to female 3/8 NPT on the small compressor. Then 3/8 NPT piping from there. On the big compressor in the other garage I went 100% 1/2NPT on everything except that very first 1/4 NPT thread. The reason I didn't drill it larger was I was afraid I could compromise the weld and blow the fitting out. Sometimes I have bad luck so I left the original thread on the tank alone.

That what i'm saying, let's say we upgrade the traditional 1/4 lines/regulator to 1/2 but then we will still have the pressure switch which always is 1/4. Would that be still the bottleneck even if after that everything will be 1/2?@@007connecticut

Great observation. I have also noticed his 1/2" setup was running at 80 psi under load as compared to 90 psi with a previous 3/8" high flow setup. That may have played the part in what you have rightfully pointed out.