Alright, folks, here's part two of the Saga of Spring, aka fixing stuff that needs fixing!
This story begins when I returned home one day to hear my air compressor running in the garage. "Damn, I left that thing plugged in again", I thought. But it didn't go off after a minute or two while I was outside. Hmm. Not good!
I get inside to find that the copper filler tube has broken at the compression fitting. Oil is *everywhere*.
The tank is almost full of pressure, but because the filler broke it would never reach "full" status, and therefore the electric motor just kept on running.. getting the compressor hotter, and hotter, until I suppose it was the rings that started letting the oil past them. Crap.
So, I refill the oil, turn the motor back on, and put a white paper towel in front of the high pressure side. Ugh... lots of oil coming out...
The compressor is a very old Craftsman that was my grandfathers. But, no reason to shell out and buy a new one, b/c when I was searching for cheap go kart engines, I picked up this gas air compressor for almost nothing. Because the mounting holes are differnent, I just figure I'll cut the old mount off and weld it to the good one.
then i decide this is stupid because it's ugly looking, and the added height would require a longer belt.
So mount goes in trash.
To line up the pulleys, I have to remove some material from the mounting plate of the compressor for the pulley to fit in..
Then I decide this is BS and not strong enough. So, I weld some angle to it to make a new mount that's strong and properly placed.
Well, measure twice and weld once is the lesson here, because the pump now is too far out and won't line up. "Grrrrrr", I think, but, hey, I'll just get that torch back out and make a little cutout. Plus, "it's gotta be good and strong now!"
Of course, the cut is too small... Soooooooo more cutting....
And we're back to a really ugly mount... But it's been about 3 hours and "I've come this far...." I don't want to cut on the tank itself to remove the angle b/c I was afraid of weakening it..
So I mock up the pump... and WAIT! In my tunnel-vision, I hadn't thought about the orientation of the filler tube...
See the above pic, where the filler hose comes out the BACK of the compressor, just waiting to get smashed on everything? (Plus now I'll be buying 20 bucks in copper to route it to the front.) So, I turn the electric motor around, and the pump around for proper orientation.
And, I weld two simple brackets to the mount. Why didn't I do this before instead of all that cutting and angle????
OK, now we're cooking!
I get the pump hooked up, but ruin the piece of copper. I go buy more copper ($6 at ACE hardware, better than a roll of 30 feet at Home Depot...)
I turn the motor on. Pump works great.. EXCEPT.....
IT LEAKS OIL LIKE A SIEVE!
So, I solve the problem....
8 gallon, 5CFS at 90PSI, normally $139 but on sale plus another 15% off discount = $76!..
Just another day in the garage... That 1 hour "remount a pump" project quickly became a multi-day, many hour project! Ah well, that's life! And now I've got a shiny compressor instead of a really oily old one. Whoop-dee-doo.
This story begins when I returned home one day to hear my air compressor running in the garage. "Damn, I left that thing plugged in again", I thought. But it didn't go off after a minute or two while I was outside. Hmm. Not good!
I get inside to find that the copper filler tube has broken at the compression fitting. Oil is *everywhere*.
The tank is almost full of pressure, but because the filler broke it would never reach "full" status, and therefore the electric motor just kept on running.. getting the compressor hotter, and hotter, until I suppose it was the rings that started letting the oil past them. Crap.
So, I refill the oil, turn the motor back on, and put a white paper towel in front of the high pressure side. Ugh... lots of oil coming out...
The compressor is a very old Craftsman that was my grandfathers. But, no reason to shell out and buy a new one, b/c when I was searching for cheap go kart engines, I picked up this gas air compressor for almost nothing. Because the mounting holes are differnent, I just figure I'll cut the old mount off and weld it to the good one.
then i decide this is stupid because it's ugly looking, and the added height would require a longer belt.
So mount goes in trash.
To line up the pulleys, I have to remove some material from the mounting plate of the compressor for the pulley to fit in..
Then I decide this is BS and not strong enough. So, I weld some angle to it to make a new mount that's strong and properly placed.
Well, measure twice and weld once is the lesson here, because the pump now is too far out and won't line up. "Grrrrrr", I think, but, hey, I'll just get that torch back out and make a little cutout. Plus, "it's gotta be good and strong now!"
Of course, the cut is too small... Soooooooo more cutting....
And we're back to a really ugly mount... But it's been about 3 hours and "I've come this far...." I don't want to cut on the tank itself to remove the angle b/c I was afraid of weakening it..
So I mock up the pump... and WAIT! In my tunnel-vision, I hadn't thought about the orientation of the filler tube...
See the above pic, where the filler hose comes out the BACK of the compressor, just waiting to get smashed on everything? (Plus now I'll be buying 20 bucks in copper to route it to the front.) So, I turn the electric motor around, and the pump around for proper orientation.
And, I weld two simple brackets to the mount. Why didn't I do this before instead of all that cutting and angle????
OK, now we're cooking!
I get the pump hooked up, but ruin the piece of copper. I go buy more copper ($6 at ACE hardware, better than a roll of 30 feet at Home Depot...)
I turn the motor on. Pump works great.. EXCEPT.....
IT LEAKS OIL LIKE A SIEVE!
So, I solve the problem....
8 gallon, 5CFS at 90PSI, normally $139 but on sale plus another 15% off discount = $76!..
Just another day in the garage... That 1 hour "remount a pump" project quickly became a multi-day, many hour project! Ah well, that's life! And now I've got a shiny compressor instead of a really oily old one. Whoop-dee-doo.
