My Compressor Died :(

[ME87]

Wouldn't you know it, my 20 year old hand me down compressor died this afternoon. The motor spins freely, but the piston assembly does not. Takes about a 3 foot bar to make it move. I wonder if I can get parts for this thing???

 

[Chris]

Where there is a will there is a way. I would rebuild it.

 

[ME87]

Yeah, I'll pull it apart this week and see if it's the bottom or top end that's fubar and go from there.

 

[Chris]

So it was the compressor that gave up, not the motor right?

 

[ME87]

Yeah, the motor still works well.

 

[Otahyoni]

Depending on what broke, you should be able to get most parts from sears...they're kinda pricey. I get the part numbers from sears then start shopping around...

 

[oldognewtrick]

I have a pump on a 20 gal tank you are more than welcome to have...free. I'm going to use the tank for a fire box on a 60 gal tank for a smoker build...if I ever get the time to do it. How close are you to Nashville? I'll even give you the motor, all it needs is a start capacitor.

 

[ME87]

Unfortunately I'm across the country. I'm going to see what is wrong with this one before I make a new plan. A buddy of mine says he has one of similar size that has been sitting in storage for ever and I can have it on a permanent loan if I want. I'm not even opposed to buying a new one, but old tools have character and I'm going to give this one a fighting chance.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Sears is usually pretty good about offering parts for their stuff. I have a whole garage full of old tools with lots of "character" so I know what you mean.

 

[ME87]

and the culprit

It ate a rod bearing.

So at minimum I need a head gasket cause this one is FUBAR after I pulled the head off, a crank and possibly a connecting rod and cap if you can't get the bearing inserts for them, which I doubt you can.

 

[Chris]

Almost worth the shipping from Old dog. Is the head gasket simple enough you can cut one out of a flat gasket material?

 

[ME87]

Yeah, we'll see what I come up with.

 

[ME87]

Well here is the new compressor for the time being.

 

[Chris]

Are you still going to fix the old one?

 

[ME87]

No, I am going to re-appropriate the motor and tank to a wet vibratory deburr machine. It will be a proto-type and the motor probably won't be big enough but if I keep it small enough, I think it will be a good test platform.

 

[Chris]

What is that and what does it do?

 

[Chris]

You can always rape an old washing machine for it's motor?

 

[ME87]

This is a much more powerful version than I plan to build to start, but it will be something to learn from.

http://wn.com/allpoly_vibratory_bowl_machine

II have a very small unit I use for polishing gun brass and I use that thing for all kinds of purposes other than that as well, so a bigger unit with actual deburring media would be nice.

Samples on the left are before heading into the polisher. Samples on the right are after 12 hours of time with a dry corncob media.

 

[Chris]

That really is pretty coold. What do you plan on using it most for? and how are you going to do it with the old compressor.

 

[ME87]

I'm hoping it will be enough that I can throw machined AL parts in there for a tumbled/vibrated finish that will remove the burrs as well. From the old compressor I'll use the motor and the tank. The tank will hold coolant and the motor will be part of the vibrating system. Everything else I will pretty much have to build from scratch.