Air Compressors....................What Kind Do YOU Have?

[toobroketoretire]

I had been running a Campbell Hausfeld (Harbor Freight) inline twin cylinder air compressor pump for the last 25 years and although slow in building pressure it was enough to do the job. When an intake reed valve recently broke and scored the rear cylinder in about 6-7 places I decided to upgrade to a larger pump. I bought the larger Harbor Freight v-twin pump that cranks out 18 cfm @ 40 psi or 1-1/2 times the volume at the same 1050 rpm. I use compressed air almost every day for something whether it be for blowing sycamore leaves out of my garage, inflating tires, or using air tools. This larger pump requires at least 5 hp to run it but as I recently installed a 6.5 hp Chinese Predator engine I have the power needed to run it. It only cost about $40 more than the smaller pump but it's definitely worth the additional cost because of its increased performance.

And the scored cylinder of my old pump? I made and installed a new reed valve then I sandblasted the scored bore. Then I filled in the scores with JB Weld then honed it back to "like new" condition. After I got it reassembled I tucked it under my workbench for an emergency. Why throw a perfectly good air compressor pump away just because of a broken reed valve and scored cylinder when the reed valve can be replaced and the scoring can be easily repaired with a high strength/high temperature epoxy?

 

[Toms007]

I have four compressors....:crazyI have a 4 hp 220v twin cylinder 20 gallon one as my main, two 2 gallon twin tank units, one in the garage and one in the shop and a 1 1/2 gallon pancake in the storage building. But remember, my main thing is woodworking, not auto repair. The big one is used mainly to run my nail/staple guns and run my HVLP spray rig. The smaller ones run my brad/staple guns when I'm out on a job. The pancake is just a backup. It I have to pump up a tire, I use the one twin tank in the garage.

 

[toobroketoretire]

Generator Power Only

As I live solely on generator power I can't use an air compressor powered by an electric motor bigger than 3/4 hp. So my present air compressor is powered by a 6.5 hp gasoline engine and it does a great job keeping up with my air tools. I have a 30 gallon main tank and two 20 gallon reserve tanks for a total of 70 gallons so I have a large amount of storage volume. If I have a need for quick (but wet) air pressure I can shut off my two 20 gallon reserve tanks and only use my 30 gallon main tank.

 

[Tom Bryant]

I have a Sears 30 gallon 220v 2 stage stationary compressor that I bought in 1978. It has painted a lot of cars and run a lot of air tools over the years. It's been a good unit and has been trouble free except for the occasional minor air leak. My main unit that I have had for about 10 years is a Sanborn 80 gallon 2 stage industrial compressor. It cycles between 145 and 175 psi and flows 17.9scfm @100psi. It's extremely loud and I only use it when I'm going to be using a lot of air volume on bigger jobs. The smaller one gets the most use.

Tom

 

[toobroketoretire]

The Downside Of V-Twin Air Compressor Pumps

The only things I don't like about v-twin air compressor pumps is how they shake the tank foreword and backward when they're pumping. Whereas a inline twin will go pump pump pump pump pump pump pump pump pump a v-twin will go pump pump...............pump pump...............pump pump...............pump pump...............pump pump...............pump pump...............as the two cylinders uh "pump" only 90 degrees apart followed by 270 degrees of nothing. So I would prefer an inline pump that is a lot bigger than the usual Harbor Freight (Campbell Hausfeld) inline pumps. The other thing I don't like is how wide they are as this one is slightly over 2 FEET wide. My 30 gallon W.W. Grainger tank is about three feet long and has a very long deck surface but I barely had enough room to get it mounted along with my gasoline engine.

After I mounted the new v-twin pump I wondered how I would go about attaching its 3/4" female tubing outlet to my Speed-Aire pressure regulator valve. I fabricated an adapter to go from a 3/4" female tubing to 1/2" female pipe and then headed to the local True Value where I happened to spot plastic coated 1/2" stainless steel gas lines intended for natural gas and propane and wondered if one of those would work. Yep, the gas line is plenty sturdy to handle the 145 psi of pressure while remaining flexible to dampen vibrations.

 

[toobroketoretire]

And Now I Have A New Problem

Just about the time I thought everything was going well a new problem has popped up. The end-to-end shaking is breaking the 3/8" X 2-1/2" steel nipple where my pressure regulator valve joins to the tank. It broke a week ago and now it's broken again because of the shaking. The nipple has an I.D. of .520" and I found a 1/4" pipe has an O.D. of .547" so if I run a 15/32" bit thru a new 3/8" nipple I MIGHT be able to press a 1/4" pipe into it if I grind the 1/4" pipe's O.D. down a few thousandths. Or...............I MIGHT be able to tap the tank's inlet bushing to 1/2" NPT. I'll look further into it tomorrow afternoon after it warms up.