Shoebox compressor future looking promising

Today marked my 3rd fill with my new shoebox 4500 psi compressor.  Filling or "TOPPING OFF" my carbon fiber tank is both easy and very convenient to say the least.  The one thing that i'm enjoying the most is the freedom of not relying on scuba shops and the time that it takes to drop the tank off and then go back and pick the tank up at a later time and date.  With gas prices being what they are today, the shoebox is saving me MORE than just the top off cost of $5.00 that the local scuba shop charges to fill up my tanks.  The other "Piece of mind" is that when you go to a scuba shop or sporting goods store to have your tanks topped off, you more than likely are not getting a FULL 4500 psi fill.  You then later see the results in the field and by then, its too late.  With this unit because of its low fill rate, the air going into the scuba tank stays cooler than the air used at a scuba shop.  The scuba shop compressor fill much faster than the SB which creates more heat upon filling and so when the scuba tank cools, the pressure inside the vessel is much lower than when it was originally filled.

Today's top off of my 4500 psi carbon fiber tank took roughly 3+ hours and when the process started, my tank was down to exactly 3500 psi.  The lowest of the 3 fills that i've done so far.  My other 2 fills were from 3900-4500 psi the first time then 2800-4500 the second time.  The 1000 psi top off took rough 3 hours to do with me running the SB for 1 hr then stopping for 15 minutes..etc..etc..etc till the tank was full.   My first fill took exactly 2 hours and my second fill took about 2.5 hours.

The times for today's fill went as following:
9:45an-10:46=3500-3800 psi

I went to lunch and ran erands and got back home at 3:15 pm.  I went to the garage later to restart the fill and it was at 3:35pm.
3:35-4:45pm
3800-4150 psi

I then let the SB cool off for 30 minutes then resumed the rest of the fill.  Letting the machine cool is not mentioned in the instruction pamphlet nor is it necessary.  But i do it for peace of mind.  This thing contains O-rings and seals and heat is the enemy of such items.  The cooler they are, the better they perform.
5:15-6:30pm
4150-4500 psi

The SB is a great value and performs its job...PERIOD.  This unit is still in its infant stages but for the money, it can't be beat.  At another time much later, i will do another report or so on how the SB is performing and what upgrades and or repairs i've done....IF ANY.

Shoebox with the "TOP DOWN" ready to fill my 4500 psi Carbon Fiber tank:

Freshly filled 4500 psi tank ready to fill my 3000 psi Logun Solo .20 cal:

Stay TUNED!!

Tofazfou