Pneumatic tool air consumption

M. J. Atkinson · Jun 18, 2007

I was just reading a thread on the Lindsay forum about powering that tool with CO2 and the economics thereof compared to buying and running a decent compressor. Kinda got me to wondering if anyone has done this with the Gravermax. I don't have any numbers on the cfm consumption of either tool, but was wondering if the little leakage from the GRS foot control might negate the apparent economy of using bulk
CO2. Any thoughts on this?

Sam · Jun 18, 2007

I've not heard of anyone doing this with a Gravermax, MJ.

Ray Cover · Jun 18, 2007

If I remember correctly GRS says in their literature that the gravermax uses 1.45 at 45lb.
The Lindsay palm control uses .3 at 60lb I believe it is.

Lindsay also has a regulator set up for using his foot pedal model with the Co2 but you only get about 2hrs of cutting time off a 20 oz tank due to the foot pedal bleed off.

Under general cutting I can get about 8 hrs use from a 20 oz tank providing the kid at the paintball store fills it all the way (they have occasionally given me 4hr tank fills

) .

I am sure you can probably run a gravermax from a co2 tank but you would probably only get maybe 30 minutes to an hour of run time due to the higher air consumption of the machine. I have not tried it.... that is only a guess based on the cfm numbers of both tools.

Ray

Mike Cirelli · Jun 18, 2007

I wonder if the new airtact attachment uses less air consumption. When I tried it, it seemed to not have the air release as with the foot pedal.

Sam · Jun 19, 2007

Mike Cirelli said:
I wonder if the new airtact attachment uses less air consumption. When I tried it, it seemed to not have the air release as with the foot pedal.

I wondered the same thing, but Airtact does not reduce air consumption. Supposedly it increases it a very small amount, but I don't know what the numbers are. What I can tell you is that I've not noticed a real-world difference in air consumption, such as the compressor kicking on more than it used to.

Airtact doesn't use the standard GRS foot pedal, so when I want pedal operation I use the pressure sensitive FootPod which makes no noise.

KSnyder · Jun 19, 2007

I usually get 1-5 hrs.worth or working time from my hammer until the beer & cigar alarm goes off.

All kidding aside, I have to believe the compressor wins in the long run when you figure in the trips to get the CO2 etc.
Kent

Ray Cover · Jun 19, 2007

Kent,

The original thread over on Steve's forum mentioned getting set up to fill your own bottles. I think we figured it would cost about $150 a year or about $12 a month to run off off Co2 full time by either running off a large tank directly or filling your own small ones.

The real advantage was that it was a very clean air supply with no contaminants and it was dry. No moisture or dirt to cause you to ever have to stop working and clean a handpiece. Plus it is extremely portable and silent.

Ray

KSnyder · Jun 19, 2007

Did anyone ever give scuba air a try? Once you get the tank the air itself is cheap. Scuba air is xtra clean and virtually moisture free. I got an 80# tank.
I use it for my Anshutz air rifle, maybe Scott will chime in here with input on the scuba air.
Kent

Dave London · Jun 19, 2007

Kent
Check out the Lindsay site for info on the scuba tank set up. Good thread gives all the info and parts needed. Dave

Lee · Jun 19, 2007

A couple of years ago at a show a fellow in the military came up and said he ran his gravermax off his scuba tank. I don't know the numbers but he was happy to be able to engrave out at sea as well as on land.

Pneumatic tool air consumption

M. J. Atkinson

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