In this tutorial, we’re going to guide you on exactly how to hook up your recently purchased air compressor to your recently dental turbine unit for practicing for the bench test. With the help of this guide, you will see that connecting a turbine to compressor is not a difficult thing to do.
Make sure to checkout our guide: Creating the Perfect Starter Bench Test Kit
Let’s Get Started!
The Turbine unit comes with a hose with free-ends. One end is connected to the turbine unit, and the other to the compressor.
1. Hooking up your Dental Turbine Unit
[Click here if you need to buy a dental turbine unit]
- Unscrew the nut from the back of the turbine unit
- Insert the nut through the free-end of the tube
- Push the tube into the fitting on the turbine – push all the way until part of the tube gets slightly fatter to accommodate the fitting
- Screw back the nut in place until secure
2. Hooking up your Compressor
[Click here if you need to purchase a compressor]
Compressor-to-Turbine-Connector: For connecting a turbine to compressor, you’ll need to create a connector which looks like the one below. To make it, you’ll need to purchase two separate parts that you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes. I’ve included images with part numbers as well as the relative location of where each part is in Home Depot (they are in separate departments). You’ll also need to purchase some Teflon Tape to prevent air from leaking. Wrap a few layers of teflon tape around the threads of Piece #1 before screwing on Piece #2.
Piece #1 – Brass Hose Barb
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Piece #2 – 1/4″ Steel Plug
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Teflon Tape
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2. Push the slender end into the tube all the way
3. Now let’s hook it up to your compressor. Locate the quick release connector on your connector, hold it back, and connect it with the quick-release on the tube before letting go – you might need to turn it right and left a bit before you feel they come together.
4. You’re done!
5. Adjustments
For adjustments to pressure, which ultimately affects the speed that your hand-piece will spin at, you’ll need to set the pressure to an appropriate amount to power your dental turbine unit just the right amount. A few folks have asked us what is the ideal pressure to set the air compressor pressure gauge at (the one in the picture above). Our recommendation is that you don’t allow the outgoing pressure from the air compressor to be higher than about 30 psi. This will prevent over-pressuring your turbine unit and most importantly help to protect your hand-piece from wearing out too fast. Thus, even if you try to turn you turbine unit to a higher psi than 30, the output from the air compressor will keep it at 30 psi or below.
For how to adjust your air compressor’s pressure gauge, check out this video:
Hey can the turbine unit work with the Quipall 2-1-SIL 1 HP 1.6 Gallon Oil-Free Hotdog Air Compressor?
Hi Jomo! I haven’t tried that compressor personally, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Great article. How do you know what pressure to use in order to get high, intermediate and low speed on your handpiece? Thank you!
Hi Lucy! Thank you! It’s 30-35psi. The rest you control with your foot pedal.
Did you get your air line hose at Home Depot too?
Hi Hillary! If you’re referring to the blue hose shown in the pictures, then no, we didn’t get that from Home Depot. Those blue air hoses should be included with any turbine unit you purchase and they are specially designed to handle high pressure. We’ve tried to purchase replacements of the same size at Home Depot and have not had luck with those, as it’s hard to find a high pressure hose like that. Hope that helps!
Hello,
Do we also need to install something between the compressor and turbine unit to dry and cool the compressed air? Is there is any risk of damage to the unit or the handpiece if the air is not dry? Thanks.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your question!
You can optionally choose to install an air compressor water filter (something like this) to collect the natural buildup of water that will collect in the air tank due to the humidity in the air. This can be especially helpful for high humidity locations. This helps reduce the water from getting into your line and going through your handpiece. That said, the damage caused by a little water in the line is likely not much. Overall though, since an air compressor like this is not designed for actual dental practice, I would not recommend using a very expensive handpiece that I was worried about damaging, but instead would use one of the ones we recommend here.
There are 2 kinds of compressors.smaller than the one shown.is that good enough?
Hi Afroze,
It’s a great question you ask. The short answer is Yes, almost any standard compressor will work, including the ones you mentioned with smaller tanks. The reason we recommend the one we link to is:
1) The brand California Air Tools makes much quieter compressors than most other brands. That said, you can literally go into any Home Depot and buy any compressor and that will still work
2) The one we recommend has an 8 gallon tank vs the ones that are smaller such as 1 gallon or 2 gallon. This will be important for you if your living situation makes it hard to be running an air compressor all day long. For those of you living in a small apartment with either family members who don’t want to hear that thing running all day or neighbors that get annoyed and report you to the housing manager, the larger tank might be a better option. Why? Because the larger the tank the less the motor will turn on. Thus, a small tank like the ones you mentioned can end up turning on and making lots of noise every minute or two while you’re working, while the 8 gallon tank has enough air to only turn on maybe once every 5-10 minutes.
Hope this helps answer your question!
kevin
Hello. Could some one give me an advise of which compressor to buy. I have seen some very cheap on amazon but not sure if the are good. Thanks
Hi! Please check our blog article about Creating a Perfect Starter Bench Test Kit to learn more what compressors to use, click the link and you’ll be directed where to buy the specific compressor:
Creating the Perfect Starter Bench Test Kit
Hi I have the compressor and turbine unit. I am having trouble finding the attachments to connect them. Could someone please tel me what attachments are needed to connect them both and where I can find them?! Thanks
Thank you. It was really helpful
Glad to know that you found this helpful!