Building boom sprayer w/foam marker

[MarkV]

Mike, great project, great creativity, great documentation and it has been a great learning experience following your thread.

Did I mention you are doing a GREAT job!

MarkV

 

[PineRidge]

Mark glad you're enjoying the project. If a TBN member can use any part of this sprayer or foam marker project for their own use then it will have all been worthwhile.

Today I'm off to the welding shop to exchange my nitrogen bottle. Maybe I can get the majority of the foamer plumbing done before the electrical parts get here.

 

[timber_al]

Mike, Great Project. I find this forum very helpful and informative. I'm currently constructing a foam marker for my sprayer as well. The Aquarium air stone was perfect and made a good consistent foam. I'm using a 12volt commercial aquarium compressor (from eBay) which has a constant runtime and gives me up to 150L/min at a maximum of 14 PSI. This is then running into a 15 gallon chemical drum I had left over. From the drum I'm running a 3/4" pipe, but I think I could go smaller, to a collector and the end of the booms. What I'm inquiring about is I need some type of timer to shut off the 12 volt Aquarium compressor on a 10 sec or more interval. I saw you picture of the timer earlier and am thinking of trying it, but Im not too good with wiring stuff. To get the longer interval you substituted the original trim pots with 250K units & also substituted both electrolytic caps for 220 mfd units to give the timer a wider timing span. Where do you find these other parts? and If you could take a picture of the timer with it wired up. It would be most appreciative. Thank you

Adam

 

[PineRidge]

Adam you should be able to get the timer as well as the capacitors and trim pots all at allelectronics.com. I'm sure you'll need to add a 12 volt relay to the board since the timer is only rated at 1.5 amps on the existing contacts. Is your compressor 12 vdc or 110 vac? How about a picture of your compressor?

I'm going to experiment with a nitrogen bottle tonight and see if I can eliminate the compressor altogether. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[timber_al]

Mike here is the Specs on the Pump I got and a picture below. I've been looking for a 12v pump and decided the cheap tire inflators couldn't handle the stress of running and the problem with reducing the pressure without burning up the pump. So went with an aquarium pump because they run constantly with a long working life, good volume, and around 3-14 psi.

you can go to ebay and look up "Boyu Commercial Aquarium Air Compressor "

Technical data:
VOLT: DC12V
FREQ: 105W
PRESSURE: 0.12MPa
OUTPUT: 150L/min
SIZE: 253x124x148xmm

 

[PineRidge]

Al maybe we can compare some notes here and both learn something in the process. I tried the compressed nitrogen today and although it worked well and produced gobs of foam it didn't last long even drawing at 2 psi, so it's back to the pump.

I agree on the fact that a tire inflater compressor is made at best for intermittent light duty so that's not the answer.

I just checked out your recommended eBay seller and I was so impressed with the aquarium pump that I purchased one too. Got a good laugh out of the eBay song by Weird Al Yankovick that was playing in the background. The fact that these pumps are made to run 24/7 and are 12 VDC pleases me.

I might recommend to you that you hold off on the purchase of the solid state timer as you may find out that it's simply not necessary. In that case a simple SPST switch would suffice.

 

[timber_al]

Mike the pump works great!! Tried it out today and am very pleased with the results that I’m getting with the foam. I’m thinking of getting another type of air-stone one that is self submergible and a little better built. Instead of the timer, I’ve decided to control the volume with an Air regulator from the pump as well as an inline Cut-off valve controlling the foam from the tank. Got most of everything plumed and should have everything completed by tomorrow. At this time I’m just going to plumb to one boom which will be about 21 ft of ¾” clear pipe from the tank, but will later probably put in a solenoid or a T-connector to connect the other. I'll get a hold of a digital camera and take a few pictures tomorrow.

 

[PineRidge]

Al our Boyu compressor showed up today also. I just fired it up about 30 minutes ago and it really seems to put out the air, plus it's pretty quiet. I would give the boom/foam a test tomorrow but my 40D is over at a friends for the weekend as we're moving lots of dirt for a project that he's finishing up. Thanks for the tip on the compressor.

I'll let you know how we make out come the 1st of the week.

PS Did you notice that the motor tag was marked 24 VDC, yet it's actually 12 VDC?

 

[PineRidge]

I had an opportunity to test run the compressor this morning for a period of roughly 3 hours straight. Since it was designed to be an aquarium air pump, it ran quietly and with very little heat. I'm very happy with the compressor and it now puts me one major step closer to wrapping up this project.

Since the compressor was a bit larger than the 1st it was necessary to find a Rubbermaid container to house the works. You can see by the pictures that that container neatly housed the compressor, solid state timer, relay, and the two air solenoids.

You can also see that the Rubbermaid box neatly tucks in between the 2 Jerry Cans on the Carry All with a nice snug fit. I'm still wondering what I'm going to tell my wife when she starts looking for her bird seed that she used to keep in the container.

I'm off Monday to a local trailer dealer to pick up a 7 conductor trailer plug, receptacle, and the wiring that I'll need to connect the spray rig with the New Holland tractor.

 

[TMAC]

That is one slick rig Mike. I'd say from the looks of it.... it was well worth the effort and time. I could sure use one of those for food plotting and many other uses for around my place. One day whether I by one from TSC or assemble one like your's myself I will have one. Good job!!

Let us know from time to time how it's all holding up and any recommendations or changes you might make. Thanks for broadcasting it on TBN!

Greg