air Compressors

[SgtRauksauff]

Ok, I'm looking for a good 2-stage compressor, 240V, single-phase, capable of giving me close to 12cfm@135psi (biggest tool I've got, Hunter TC3500 tire changer.) Preferably vertical, but if the price is right, I'll get a horizontal one.

I had a GOOD lead on a very nice Quincy, but it got sold just before I called the guy. so now, I'm looking around, and see some Ingersoll Rands (horizontal), and I found a Porter-Cable one (7.5A, 240V, single-phase, 80gal. tank) from a shop that's merging with another one.

Who's got some good advice that I should pay attention to, before I go out and spend some doolars?

--sarge

[djchubbs]

Give me a call on monday We are running a special on our CAIRE compressors that run low pump rpms and are built in MN..

7153846042
Carquest Tool & Equipment
Eric Colvin

[djchubbs]

Make sure you check pump speed not motor speed most IR compressors run above 1000 rpm our 80 gal runs at 640 rpm and are a tripple cylinder..I can also get remanufactured Campbell Hausfeld but they run at 1750 rpm and bounce around on the floor like a little dog..

[SgtRauksauff]

how about just the air tanks/recievers themselves? 80 gallon vertical is what I want.

I'm actually waiting to hear back on a Quincy QR-25 (325 pump model) right now. min rpm is 400, max is 900. commonly driven around 750, for almost 19cfm@175psig....

the cool part is, the guy's only asking 250 for it.

--sarge

[djchubbs]

That is to cheap of a deal to pass up

[SgtRauksauff]

well, I didn't get the Quincy with the 325 pump (pressure lubricated, and external unloaders on the head).

I got a Quincy QT-5 ROC 202 (Record Of Change) setup. Little different, splash lubricated instead of pressure lubricated. But it also came with a 200 gal tank, and a 5hp, 3-phase, TEFC, 100% duty-cycle motor.

It needs a bit of work: basically some new bearings and the oil seal on the crankshaft, a new air filter, new discharge pipe (I'll probably be making a nifty aftercooler) and I need to get a single-phase motor for it.

But for 250 doolers, you just CANT beat it! unless it's free...

--sarge

[djchubbs]

If you need help finding parts just get the model or serial number off of the pump or motor and might be able to help you out..

[VPT]

Do you have 3 phase power?

[SgtRauksauff]

nope. which is why I need to get a single-phase motor, probably a magnetic starter setup for it as well.

--sarge

[VPT]

You want to get rid of that 3 phase motor? I need one.

[SgtRauksauff]

I was going to give it to a motor shop here, in trade towards a rebuilt single-phase Baldor. (new ones are like 700+ bucks!)

However, I've got the number of the guy I bought the compressor from. He actually asked if I needed any motors, but since they were all 3-phase, I declined. Basically, he used to run a fertilizer manufacturing plant, and he's actually got a skid of 3-phase motors that they used for about one to two days per year, for several years, using them to pump up some tanks. So, like 60-100 hours on these motors. I think he'll sell'em pretty cheap, hopefully. Most of the farmers around all need single-phase, so he's been sitting on them for awhile, I think.


I'll PM you his number, and you can call him. Depending on how things go, maybe I can pick one (or more, if you need them) up, and bring it to a TT..

--sarge

[SgtRauksauff]

Finally ran the circuit, wired things up, built my water separators, and fired 'er up.

there's a little rattle/NVH to it that's being addressed, but it seems to do pretty good. It takes approximately 15 minutes and 12 seconds to go from completely empty up to 175psi in the 120 gallon tank. I adjusted the pressure switch tonight, so cut-out is 150, cut-in is 120.

Ended up draining just under 5 gallons of water out of the tank before we fired it up! came out clear, for the most part, which is a good sign. there's probably oil film and other crusty bits of the original drain hose in there, but things seem to be OK. I'm going to take off the crank bearing plate this weekend sometime, and see what it looks like inside.

Here's a pic of it where it sits right now. I hand-cleaned and spraybombed the mounting plate, but I plan on using air tools to clean and paint the rest of the tank, eventually.

http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/3925-5/compressor01.JPG


--sarge

[ragdoll]

97 cent of spray paint will get that fixed right up

[TomKat]

Looks very functional Sarge. Nice work.

[SgtRauksauff]

And the air coming out of the tank is DRY. Those air separators really work!! they call them 'Franzinators'. I don't have to worry about mucking up my tire changer anymore!

--sarge

[SgtRauksauff]

well then. minor update.

the QT-5 pump worked pretty good. Brought the tank up to 175psi in about 15 minutes. It was rather loud, though, and made noises that I didn't think it should be making. So after a few filling cycles, i was going to change the oil anyways, so i took off the head and the cylinder jug.

Holy crap!! The high pressure piston has a needle bearing between the rod and the wristpin. there were no needles in the bearing. you could turn the piston on the rod like an eighth of a turn!!!

And it gets better. The big end of that same rod (aluminum) was elongated about 1/4 inch!! The crankshaft was kinda grooved and worn funny, and the cylinders have vertical scratches where the piston skirts were catching them. Skirts are kinda worn a lot also.

Ah well, what should I have expected for 250 bucks? I'm disappointed, but I also learned a lot.

in theory, it can be cleaned up and machined and work just fine, it's just going to take some time, and some custom rod bearings and rings and/or pistons. It would've cost over 500 to get all new parts from Quincy, and 1300 for a new pump.

So, I looked around, and found a better compressor. This one works. It came with a new Baldor motor. The guy modified the mounting plate so belt tension and alignment can be adjusted with the turn of a wrench. And it's all painted. Even better, the guy plugged it in, and ran it through some cycles for me.

Granted, this was in Farmington MN, so it was quite a long day Saturday morning to go get it. 9 hours from my front door at 6:30 am, to my front door at 3:30pm.

This one's a Quincy 325, it's pressure lubricated, and it doesn't put a load on the pump until the oil pressure is high enough.

Couple photos after we used the cherry picker to take it off of the truck, during the process of getting it into the garage:

I felt like an Egyptian slave, moving rocks for the Pyramids!
http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/4244-2/P1010673.JPG

Here it sits in its Smurf-Like Glory:
http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/4248-2/P1010674.JPG

Here's looking at the compressor intake side:
http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/4252-2/P1010675.JPG

Just to get a perspective on the size of the compressor pump, the end of the tape
is even with the top tower on the head.
http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/4256-5/P1010676.JPG

Of course, it didn't get put in and hooked up right away. Since the corner of the garage was cleaned up, we decided to actually insulate it and put up some OSB we had laying around.
http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/4264-2/P1010678.JPG

--sarge

[EVILUTION]

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/3412/img0016hi.jpg

[Deadly_Evolution]

^ Yours or just a photo of some other lucky chap?

[devlish]

^ if it is his... save your money, cuz he'll be selling it for a screaming deal in about 3 weeks!! j/k

[EVILUTION]

It's not mine.

[devlish]

but you know what could be yours?? my extra jeep rims for your snow tires!!
Guy told me the wrong bolt pattern when i bought them but they'll fit your JGC!

[EVILUTION]

Well I don't really need another set of rims and I don't think you need 17" snow tires.

[devlish]

they are 16" rims...
and i'm undecided on snows yet...

[EVILUTION]

You can get snow tires at any time. So just wait until you determine if they are needed or not.

I only purchased snow tires because the jeep doesn't see much action in the summer and at the time I only had one set of rims. I think its a waste on a 4x4. Hell even my truck with mud terrains was plenty good in the snow and everyone knows a non-trapping MT is the worst tire to run in the snow.

[devlish]

i like sipes. plus R-Shelly will be driving most of the time. that is my #1 reason for snows. if it was me... i could handle the 2/3 missing Wrangler SRAs that are on it!
i'd like to go up to 245-70-16 but it appears they might rub a titbit. hmmm

[SgtRauksauff]

depends on where you drive the truck, too. just in town for commuting, or to another town for commuting, on the interstate, or on counry backroads.

And that HKS is a pansiatic compressor. it only puts out what, maybe 40 psi tops? question is, what sort of CFM does it produce? I need ~12cfm @ 130psi.

--sarge

[VPT]

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7118/aircompressor072.jpg

http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/3397/aircompressor073.jpg

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/9210/aircompressor075.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4826/aircompressor076.jpg




Has been running like a champ ever since. :cool:

[devlish]

depends on where you drive the truck, too. just in town for commuting, or to another town for commuting, on the interstate, or on counry backroads.


--sarge

mostly around town. will go to Mosinee and back once in a while if there is a bad snow storm. I think i'm going to go with the A/Ts and see how it goes this winter. not sure i'll even have it still next winter.

[SgtRauksauff]

I'd toss a couple bags of sand in the back, and call it good. Sure, you can be in 4WD all the time, but i't's kinda fun with a "short" wheelbase RWD from time to time. I had an '89 S10 blazer years back, that was a BLAST to bomb around in 2WD in the snow. I just used 4WD if I knew I was going to need it. I really liked that 4.3L v6, too, that thing had gobs of torque. All I used were some BFG AT's of some sort. Took'em off and used'em on my '83 caprice when the Blazer went away.

VPT, that's pretty sweet! Question, how does the rod stay on the crank? It looks clamped onto something, but how is that something retained?

--sarge

[SgtRauksauff]

anti-vibration feet:

http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/4269-2/P1010687.JPG

http://sharkpork.com/gallery/d/4273-2/P1010688.JPG

Tires are a LOT harder to cut than you'd think. the steel belts chew up sawzall blades and spit them out for breakfast. Well, the ones in the bead do. the ones through the tread, i was able to cut them easily enough with the sawzall from the inside, with as shallow of an angle as possible. But with them at a ~90° angle, I just lost sawzall teeth.

For the bead belt, I ended up using a cutting wheel on a die grinder. But, running individual feet on the tank has noticeably stopped the machine from shaking (uneven floor) and even quieted things down a bit.

--sarge

[VPT]

I'd toss a couple bags of sand in the back, and call it good. Sure, you can be in 4WD all the time, but i't's kinda fun with a "short" wheelbase RWD from time to time. I had an '89 S10 blazer years back, that was a BLAST to bomb around in 2WD in the snow. I just used 4WD if I knew I was going to need it. I really liked that 4.3L v6, too, that thing had gobs of torque. All I used were some BFG AT's of some sort. Took'em off and used'em on my '83 caprice when the Blazer went away.

VPT, that's pretty sweet! Question, how does the rod stay on the crank? It looks clamped onto something, but how is that something retained?

--sarge



The rod is clamped to a bearing that is pressed onto a shaft.

[VPT]

Sarge, out of all these air compressors and stuff what kind of electric motors do you have laying around? I need something at least 1hp.

[SgtRauksauff]

I traded in the original 5hp Dayton 3-phase to get a price-drop on a 5hp Baldor single-phase. Since that compressor pump turned out to be shot, the new, better compressor is now running that same Baldor motor. The motor it came with was a new Baldor 5hp 3-phase. I shoulda kept the last one, but I was dumb. I'm keeping this one, because once I finally get a place with a decent shop I'm definitely having 3-phase power.

We shoulda yanked one of the motors off of the rock crusher at LSPR for ya! one motor probably weighed as much as Andy's RS!