Air compressors get married...

[cathead]

Today I set out to do some cleaning in the shop but didn't get very far with that. Instead, I removed the compressor pump
from an air compressor that has been sitting outside since fall. As luck would have it, I had all the parts and pieces needed
to make one compressor out of two. The pump I used was powered with a 1725 rpm motor(defective) and the
tank I installed it on had a 3450 RPM motor. A somewhat smaller pulley was located in one of the sheds so used that.
The pump was mounted on a 5x6 in piece of 3/16 steel. I threaded the plate and welded on some bolt threads
and ground the plate flat on the bottom. The plate was welded on to the existing plate which was too thin to easily
mount the pump.
Removing the compressor pump out in the cold was the hardest part......
It's not much of a compressor but will be good enough for airing up tires and smaller jobs. There was no intake air cleaner so I made up one
out of a piece of aluminum tubing and a bit of ingenuity thrown in for good measure. Also the drain bung was all beat up so had to do some
silver soldering to make it usable.

Maybe tomorrow I will get some cleaning done.

 

[Dhal22]

What is all that white stuff in the first photo?

Haven't seen snow here in a couple of years or more.

 

[brino]

hey @cathead

My only concern with old compressors is the state of the tanks.
There's just too many stories about them letting go unexpectedly.
Any chance you can inspect or pressure test the tank your using?

My little portable air tank I inspected with a bore scope.....but my bore scope died before I got to check my compressor tank.
All summer I meant to find the parts to do a ~200psi water pressure test on my compressor tank, but here we are in January and my yard looks like yours. There's no way I can pressure test when it's freezing out.

Not meant to lecture, just want to keep reading your posts for a long while yet!
-brino

 

[cathead]

hey @cathead

My only concern with old compressors is the state of the tanks.
There's just too many stories about them letting go unexpectedly.
Any chance you can inspect or pressure test the tank your using?



Hi Brino,

Thanks for the concern. I got the tank from a friend who was using the compressor when the pump threw a rod.
The weak spot on old tanks is on the bottom where water sits and rusts away spots in that area. It seemed pretty
sound so I decided to use it. I don't have a bore scope but I could fill it with water and use my two stage compressor to
pressurize it to 150 PSI. The tank in the snow has a leak in the bottom so it will be used for something other than a pressure
vessel, not sure what yet, maybe a wood stove. Cutting it up with my new Everlast 80S plasma cutter would be a good
first project. That tank has two bungs about two inches in diameter so could remove those before I start cutting. Would
there be any hazard in that or would one be wise to fill it up with water mostly before cutting on it? I don't see any danger
there but don't have any plasma cutting experience yet.

Come to think of it, Plasma cutters and water might not be a good mix either......

 

[aliva]

Good point on the condition of the tank, A hydo test would be a good idea. Test it with water at 125%of running pressure for 30 minutes