mobile station for Airgraver & compressor

[Mark Parkinson]

I manage a 10 person goldsmith shop. I have one Airgraver that is mine and I and I don't share it. I want to buy another one for the shop so the other 9 bench people can use it. I'm thinking that rather than running compressed air line to each bench (big shop and that would be lots of work), that I would get a cart to keep the small silent air compressor on along with the regulator, Airgraver, hone...etc. That way people could just roll it to their bench and plug it in when they want to use it.
Question is, has anybody done this? And if so what did you use for your cart? Steve has given me some good ideas but I'm wondering what the group thinks.
Thanks,
Mark

[Daniel Houwer]

Hi Mark,
I am a goldsmith too and love my Lindsay as much as any other.
A movable cart or table on wheels seems like a good idea.
I think a movable kitchen cutting block would do nice. Pretty heavy build with a few trays and just above the ground something to put your compressor on.
But would that be with or without microscope and vice?

I myself was thinking about an extra workbenche with all this stuff on it.
I have three benches and one of them is my personal one but whenn not working with the airgraver my scope is in the way and I allways have to remove my engraving vise. So the extra workbenche would allow me to pick up the work I need done with the Lindsay and microscope to that benche with everything ready at hand. Whenn not working there someone else could use it.

Hope this helps,

Daniel

[SVD]

I'll toss in an alternative suggestion:

Use CO2.

I've got my "Box O' Happiness" setup that runs off 20oz CO2 tanks. I've got a 20lb tank near my bench to refill the small ones myself.

To use my Lindsay at my bench all I did was add a 'monster cup holder' - it's a 4" PVC cap plus a 4" -> 3" adapter. The 4" cap is screwed to the leg of my bench and the adapter is just press fitted into it - it just extends the 'cup' up high enough to keep the whole thing steady. There was a small ridge on the inside of the adapter I had to scrape off to let the tank fit.
Hardest part of the whole thing was getting my big old hand into the 'cup' to turn the screwdriver (I used a stubbie one and pre-drilled holes in the leg of the bench). To get the right height I just set the tank in the cup and moved it up and down to find the spot.

When I switch from my GRS system to my Lindsay I just move the foot pedal for my GRS out of the way, set the tank in the cup and put the Lindsay foot pedal where my GRS one was.

All you would have to do is either add a tank holder to each bench or set up one holder with some sort of hook arrangement that could hook to the benches as needed.

The 20oz tanks are good for up to 10 hours of use and if you have at least two then when one runs out you take a minute or two to switch tanks and refill the empty one at your leisure.

[Mark Parkinson]

The cart would be without the scope and vise. Each bench has that or they share it. All that'll be on the cart is the compressor, regulators, airgraver, hone, Steve's sharpening system and gravers (proobably a few other things I'm overlooking). I had been looking at metal carts with wheels that are about 24" x 18" and about 32" tall. They have drawers and shelves and will hold everything. Each person can just roll it up to their bench and plug in the compressor and away they go.

Steve Lindsay had also sugested the CO2 method. But I'm thinking that with the compressor we never need to buy tanks, but your idea does make a lot of sense. I'm going to remember your PVC pipe suggestion Steve, that was a good idea.

Mark

[SVD]

CO2 is just such a nice thing with Steve's gear. Never a problem with moisture or oil and no noise.

There's a thread where folks worked out the air flow for Steve's gear and GRS gear. Suffice it to say that while you could run GRS gear off of CO2 it's not recommended. You'd blow through the tanks so fast I'd actually worry about the air quality.

Steve's AirGraver Classic gets 7 - 10 hours on just a little 20oz paintball tank. The PalmControl uses significantly less gas.

With the cart you could put a pair of 20oz (or the slightly larger ones - 36oz?) on the cart and they wouldn't even have to plug anything in.

You can also use HPA (High Pressure Air) and refill from a scuba tank - there are threads on that here as well. Since I'm not a scuba diver CO2 works out cheaper for me.

[Mark Parkinson]

Those are really helpful tips Steve. I think I still am going to use the little silent air compressor for the cart set up. But if, as I expect, more than one person regularly wants to use the Airgraver at the same time I could possibly add a CO2 set up to the mix. I like how totally portable that is.

Thanks,
Mark