Air Compressor

Here it is. The start of a new project. I have been looking for a large air compressor for the past couple of months so that I can sandblast and paint my other projects. Besides the oily mess, this compressor was a spectacular deal. I will leave the specifics out as to not make anyone upset that they missed out on this deal. I do want to shout out to Chris and thank him for the help getting this beast home. I plan to pull the whole thing apart and clean it up before I install it permanently into my shop.




What can I say besides yuck! Not only is the compressor disgusting, the pressure switch is missing its cover and the over pressure tube has been disconnected. I hope to find a cheap pressure switch so that I can replace this one.

I have been working on disassembly of the compressor. I pulled off the safety grill, both pulleys, and the motor. I had to use my three claw pulley puller to get the compressor pulley off. That is always an adventure because my puller is missing several crucial nuts and bolts. I will get around to fixing that tool at some point. Next steps are to pull the compressor and degrease the tank. Anyone interested in playing with some caustic chemicals?

Off with your head! After working on the greasy tank for about 2 hours I needed a break. I took off the compressor head. I was a little disappointed to find that the compressor is made from Aluminum.

As you can see in this picture, the tank is looking pretty good. I pulled apart the pressure switch to clean it out. I am not totally sure I am going to get it back together. When I pulled the last screw the parts flew out like popcorn.

Oops, I broke the tube that connects the compressor head to the tank. The tube was made out of really thin Aluminum so I was not too suprised when I broke it. I took a trip to the hardware store and picked up some flexible copper tube and compression fittings.

Here you can see the oil draining from the head. It was pretty much sludge. I imagine this is the same oil that came from the factory some 10 - 20 years ago.

I threw this picture in because I want to show off my work cleaning the head. It looks just like new.

Putting the top of the compressor back together. Installation of a new flexible copper pipe between the head and the tank went better than I expected. This picture is a little depressing because as I write this, the temperature is 29 degrees with snow on the ground. The temperature when I took this picture was 70 degrees and sunny. Why do we live in Wisconsin?


Up close picture of the tank compression fitting. I hope it doesn't leak.

This is the old pressure switch. I have since replaced it with a unit that I found at Fleet Farm for $15. I cleaned and rebuilt this pressure switch twice before I realized how cheap I could buy a replacement part.

Well, I found the reason for all of the oil on the compressor tank. This is the pipe that connects the high and low pressure sides of the compressor. The gasket blew out and the previous owner let the the compressor blow oil all over for several years. I didn't want to pay for a new gasket so I used a thin film of RTV while reattaching the pipe to the compressor.

Getting closer. I put the pulleys and belt back on the compressor and performed a quick test. It pumped up nicely but I have a few issues I need to deal with.

1. Need a new belt

2. The motor pulley wobbles

3. The over pressure tube leaks

4. Air slowly leaks out the oil fill plug

Here you can see how clean I got the tank. It really looks nice.