Air Compressor! (for future power hammer)

[Grant]

Not really power hammer related, but the main purpose of the compressor will be to use it WITH a power hammer, so I’m posting it here! Can’t really justify another forum… Or maybe we do need one.

Anyways - I jumped on a compressor the other day that was too good of a deal to not go for.

The guy listed a 7.5 hp 2 stage 80 gallon Ingersroll Rand for $300, and his phone rang off the hook - price went up and I said I can be over there asap and we can work out a deal. After inspecting the pictures and talking to the guy as well, he said he doesn’t have 230 volt in his garage where it is, but he got it from his work when they were closing up shop and it was working then. They performed routine maintenance to it, and it was a “parting gift” to him as the shop got bought out.

Went to take a look at it, it looked in really good shape! They just cut the power cable, no big deal, oil through the sight glass seemed ok - a little low, maybe. Overall I was surprised with the condition it was in and got it for $450.

So! I now have a giant compressor out in the shop! I have a few other things I’ll be able to use it for, die grinder, paint sprayer, etc, but the main usage is that I plan on getting a pneumatic power hammer sometime in the future.

After wrestling it onto the trailer (500lb total weight), had a brief awkward situation with another buyer who arrived just after I was about to leaver, and I brought it home. Much easier to handle these things when you take off the motor and the pump itself - I was able to move it all myself when separating the parts.

I’m going to put new oil in it today and wire it up for 230 and plug it in. Hoping there isn’t anything majorly wrong with it, but given the shape, I have high hopes - anyways, very excited, and here are some photos of it!

Oh, and I did have one question of if that little device on the right side (bottom) of the compressor was an inline air drier? It looks like it has a little glass globe and release valve for when water gets in there, just am not completely positive. Still learning the parts.

Very excited

[Moderator_contactme]

Yes, the globe should gather condensation, and then the reverse thread valve at the bottom can allow it to be drained, it is a good idea to have the outlet go somewhat uphill from this for 2ft or so, allowing additional water to drain back to it…it will save your tools from always having water run through them.

Nice buy, and a good deal! You will have more air than you need till you get a hammer on it!

[Grant]

Great suggestion Chad - I didn’t think of that, I was still looking at how I was going to pipe it/run a hose to it but now that you say that I might just go up on the ceiling and over to where the power hammer will sit.

[Moderator_contactme]

That’s exactly what I would do, gives the condensation every chance to get out before it gets in your hammer…just tricks I picked up being a maintenance man for years!

[Grant]

Well I got the parts, fresh oil, a cable large enough to handle the 40 amp draw, plug, etc. Got it all hooked up and fired up - I think it sounds good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pPHdrD9SpDo

While I was looking it over and inspecting it though I did find a crack in the intercool tube! Shoot, I knew there would be something.

Anyways, it seems the air is only coming out while the compressor is running and it stop when the compressor isn’t (aka, seems the air gets into the tank, and doesn’t all escape out that intercool tube).

Looks like a new finned intertube online is roughly $80-100 or so… Not bad, but wondering if this can possibly be replace otherwise? It looks to be copper tubing that is finned. Any thoughts, guys?

Any foreseeable problems other than just not getting the bang for my buck from the compressor with the crack?

[Grant]

After reading a little about it online, I put some JB weld on the crack - gonna wait and then apply another coat, then give it another test run to see how it goes

[Moderator_contactme]

Can I suggest that after the jb weld is done wrap some type of screen around it and wire it down, just as a safety from any possible failure under pressure, no one need shrapnel!

[Javos_Ironworks]

Very nice Grant. One step closer to that powerhammer !
The water trap is a nice extra, Make sure you drain it before winter. Remember…water expands when frozen

[Javos_Ironworks]

Here is a photo of how I mounted my air compressor. Only bolted to the palette and not to the floor. It’s been like this for 10 years so it must be working!

[Grant]

Thanks for the pics! Do you have the padded cushions under the compressor or under the pallet?

Unfortunately, the epoxy on the intercooler tube didn’t hold that well - it’s holding some but I think the pressure just blows it off a bit, or leaks out enough. I’m not using JB weld but instead using a different Gorilla epoxy, so I wonder if JB Weld would hold better (Some other internet sources say it was holding.

Think I’m coming down to the solution of just buying a new one… I’ll give a few more tricks an attempt though.

[Moderator_contactme]

A few tubes of trial fixes are worth it when you are looking at $100 for the part…start with the cheap solution and go from there!

[Grant]

Well I worked on this a bit this weekend, been busy with other things but got at this thing at least I took off all the previous epoxy I had applied, filed it and cleaned up the crack real good and applied JB weld - so far, it seems to be holding! And a LOT better than the epoxy!

I’m gonna apply a few more layers of the JB weld to it, just for good measure - and maybe event try to increase the support there a bit to try to limit the shaking. For right now though, it’s great! I got it where I want it to live and I’ll be running conduit/cable for 220v when there is a sale at my local hardware store next.

Besides that… Been keeping in touch with the guy who is making the power hammers I am interested in - he is getting closer and closer. I’ll hopefully be making my way out there sometime soon!