by John Freitas
This paper describes how I made my own silent compressor. you aren’t comfortable doing so and I am only providing this as
Due to the high cost of silent compressors I decided to build a documentation of how I built a compressor for myself.
my own. There are many things to take into consideration when I spent some time researching and gathering information and
making your own compressor. It does require some basic un- for my project. First priority was to design something safe and
derstanding of electrical wiring and pneumatics. Building some- practical. Second was low noise. Third was reliability and fourth
thing to compress air can be dangerous. I must say don’t try it if was to operate at my desired air pressures.
I used a four gallon air tank with a maximum air pressure that exceeds the set pressure of my
blow off valve and pressure switch. This does several things. The blow off valve releases air if
for some reason the tank builds up a higher pressure than the set pressure of the blow of valve.
Blow off valves come with different pressure ratings. I am using a 115psi one. I have my pres-
sure switch which controls the auto on/off of the compressor set to 100 psi. So if everything
is working right the blow off valve should never go off.
My next priority was that the compressor
be quiet. I wanted a fairly powerful compres-
sor that wouldn’t cycle on and off all the
time trying to keep up with my airbrush. I
was able to get a new 700 watt refrigerator
compressor motor. 700 watts is a little less
than 1 hp. which is plenty of power for my
needs. The reason for using a refrigerator
motor that they are very low noise motors.
My compressor is quieter than my refrig-
erator.
Because I want this compressor to hold up over time as it will be I am mainly going to use this compressor for illustration and
my primary air source I used a new compressor motor. I added will mainly use air pressure from 5-40 psi. I have my pressure
an air filter for the motor intake and added vibration dampening switch set to come on at 60 psi and turn off at 95psi. Below
feet between the compressor and the air tank. I will also have is the diagram and the basic steps I used in the building of my
to change the oil in the compressor about once a year. compressor.
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