Welding on the Compressor

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HaHaHaHaHa!!! - no need for flamez or popcorn on this thread!  Except for the long windedness.    Lots of indespensible peripheral welding on this project, even though the couple dozen pics don't show too much of it!  Please bear with me - thanks!Pic#1  I found this - WOW - in a car wash (about to be torn down, sold as salvage, but I didn't know it! I just thought they were replacing it! )  Of course, the spray wax machine coated EVERYTHING downwind. Pic#2  Loaded it in my "welding truck", one really big guy helped me, I didn't realize it weighed 600 pounds!     Unloaded it alone - with  my special low rise crane!  OOPS - it's footless! Pic#3  3/8x4 strap, cut, drill, weld to 12ga legs.  I can really crank it up!  HH140, .030 wire, C25@12 cfh outdoors, power 4 speed 45.Pic#4  Little niece helper looks like my daughter did 25yrs ago - wow!    Wash 1st with full strength simple green.  Rinse and repeat. Pic#5  Also wiped it with lacquer thinner, and the bottom rust (surprisingly little) with ospho.  Then painted with Amerlock 2.  Do NOT NOT NOT like that stuff!!!  Worked good for this, short of breath, not so good on gate, but that's another story.Five more posts!  With pix! Attached Images
Reply:Won't show all the filthy parts cleanup, but back to welding here.  The ad said motor worked.  HAHA No way, was locked up.  Pic#6  Had to weld "accessories" for the HF pulley puller since nothing would work to get the plastic motor cooling fan off.  Bearings were shot, other end frozen. Motor worked fine after $17 worth of bearings!Pic#7  Building a box David!!!  Cheated - used Rage saw to slice one face from a 16ga  1.5x3 steel tube 3.5" long.  Welded on ends.  What it for?  Unloader switch cover was missing.Pic#8  Cleaned, reassembled, and test ran the compressor pump ... bang bang bang ... turned it off QUICK!  Then took it back apart.  Everything looked good inside except high pressure (small) piston con rod.  Looks like they ran it long after they should have stopped.  Wrist pin looked and mic'd good, but rod end was worn oval .105" - WOW!Of course, Sanborn's outabiz, so parts globally unavailable.  Local repair guys said (online) companies buy up outabiz inventories and mark them up 500%.  aircompressorpartsonline.com wanted $75 for what used to be a $15 rod.  And they had 2 or 3 parts numbers for different models that looked like the same part, with no way to tell.  I measured the conrod and emailed them.  They said "just buy one" - then pay us 20% restock + shipping if its the wrong one - maybe even two or 3x!  Rinse and repeat!    I said WTF !?!?! and got busy on something else.Eventually I need a real aircomp (not the little nailgunner) for spray painting ... so now's (Jun 2012) ... the time!  Enlisted the help of another welding project, my unfinished tubing roller!  What for?  Pic#9  Line boring the conrod! Drilled my 5/8 CR shaft and carefully ground a 3/16" drill bit into a "lathe" cutter. Pic#10  I think the bore is a couple thousandths over.  18x22x20mm bushings from ebay $5 ea.  Set one in the bore in loctite. Next post ... Attached Images
Reply:Pic#11  Later discovered the piston wrist pin hole was worn too, almost as much!  So I ground my HF sandisk nuts to a cone to match the piston bore relief.  Used a 5/8-11 thd rod to center bottom bearing in drill press.  Probably a little runout ... Pic#12  So I take an unfinished base plate from yet another welding project, drill & tap it, bolt it to some CR (cold rolled), set it on some CR bars, bolt on the piston thru another project's holesaw drop.  Used last pic's parts to center it, clamp it and bolt it.  Pic#13  Had to make a longer boring bar, but same idea as Pic#9, but slower ... took a dozen passes.  Pic#14  Sliced the other bushing in half.  Fit even better than the conrod.  Pic#15  And here's a little diamond burr, along with the piston holder jig, to grind out a slot for the clip ring retainer - worked! Sorry this "ersatz home shop machining" stuff don't look like welding, but it wouldn't be possible without the other welding work I'm doing!  Next post ... Attached Images
Reply:Pic#16  Snapped in and reassembled! No pics of reassembly or refurbishing of other parts, so back to welding! Pic#17  Building a Box!  Hey David - I cheated  - sawed out the corners and bent in vise over CR bars. 16ga sheet. Pic#18  Nice welds?  Surprising to me, they are welded moving DOWN!  Power 2, speed 25, .030 at 12cfh. Apparently Lincoln L-56 wire, (whatever it's spec) likes this!  Downhand?  Moving quick ... Pic#19  And of course ground off, then sanded to 220.  Hole-sawed a 2-1/4" in the 4-1/2" square face.  Will show up finished in Pic#33.  Pic#20  Now we get goofy.  They wanted $23+15 shipping for a factory air filter.  Why not make (a cool) one instead?  Drilled two 1/4" plates, welded in two 1/2" tube spacers and a 16ga x 1" strip to close top.  (Bird poop!!!) Mitered a 1x3x16ga tube. Tried to hammer the short end to a 3" circle - no anvil, no heat - hahahahaha EPIC FAIL! Next post ... Attached Images
Reply:Good luck hope it works out well for you, but be very careful and be safe, espically with the precious little helper!wboldenMiller Shopmaster 300Miller Syncrowave 250Miller Thunderbole 250/150 AC-DCMiller Weldpack 140 w/autosetMiller S-22 WirefeederLincoln 255 xt Mig welderLincoln 216 Mig welderVictor,Smith and Harris OA7X 12 JET BANDSAW
Reply:Pic#21  Cut it apart, cut new 1x3, drilled it.  What are those holes for?  "Rolled" a 14ga x3/4" ring around the pipe that holds up my vise!Pic#22  Welded the ring, ground it, hammered back into curve, and welded to 1x3. Pic#23  Cut 16ga trapazoids, bent in wood hand screw clamp.  Sorta fit...Pic#24  Final shape with belt sander.Pic#25  Weld to ring and 1x3.  Can't believe it looks so poopy compared to the miter weld.  Could NOT get a comfortable smooth motion on the curve! Next post ... Attached Images
Reply:Pic#26  Wire brushed and sanded to 220.  "Primed" with Galvax. Pic#27  Bolted to compr pump.  Good penetration at ring.  Why the holes? Pic#28  Intake finished.  Spectre air filter $18 at PepBoys.  Very cool looking!  Then I went and "ruined" the look! - "bagged" it with a shop vac pre-filter bag. Pic#29  Found one of these reels with a new hose (I like the orange!) and dried out O-rings on CL for $20.  And the filter / regulator for $12.  Replaced the o-rings but HF OEM's are a goofy size not findable locally - not even in their set!  They look like a really serious wear item, and expect leaks within a few months of daily use, even though I used that silicone o-ring grease.Pic#30  However, that 3" wide back (black) strap,with holes 2" apart is too small for prolonged and repeated hose pulling.  So got a 3/16x4 strap from the drop pile and cut it to 6".  Drilled it, spaced it 1/16" from the "U" and butt welded both faces.  This is the first weld I've done a full 6" long weld in years hahahahaha!Next post ... Attached Images
Reply:Pic#31 Ground back side flat to bolt to wall and primed.  Just that extra 4" mounting height makes it "solid as a rock"!  WOW! 5x as strong as before.  Finish install was Pic#29. Pic#32 The day after I installed the "orange" hose reel, I found the one I REALLY wanted on CL NEW for $40!  ($200 at Northern!)  Yesterday I changed them out.  This is the final pic. Pic#33  The two boxes.   One for the unloader switch cover, the other to mount the hour meter ($5 on ebay).  $75 CL purchase turned into $180 for the compressor; and the plumbing and electric (needed for ANY new compressor installation) was $160.  All in all, runs good,was a successful project!  Doesn't even leak!  One of these days I'll paint it all grey!  Been waiting for "shop air" like this for almost 45 years!  Hope this was interesting!  We seem to get dragged into more "fix / rebuild anything" than the average shop guys ...And a HUGE shout out to the webMASTERs for allowing us to click on a 2mb pic file and have it automatically converted to the 150+/- kb that the site pics need!    Thx again! Attached Images
Reply:Originally Posted by wboldenGood luck hope it works out well for you, but be very careful and be safe, espically with the precious little helper!wbolden
Reply:good work, you need a milling machine and lathe real bad . check craigslist .
Reply:Fabn4Fun, there are so many things I love about your repair thread, the homemade line bore and puller modifications are wonderful. Most anyone would have ordered new parts but this shows how a little ingenuity and time can produce great results. The sleeved rod and piston will likely do well for a long time. Thanks for sharing.
Reply:Originally Posted by vettepickinggood work, you need a milling machine and lathe real bad . check craigslist .
Reply:Tenacity!  A great word that describes this perfectly!Keep up the great work!- MondoMember, AWSLincoln ProMIG 140Lincoln AC TombstoneCraftsman Lathe 12 x 24 c1935Atlas MFC Horizontal MillCraftsman Commercial Lathe 12 x 36 c1970- - - I'll just keep on keepin' on.
Reply:No I am going to Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Everything is OK so far Had a little problem with the teacher not really careing about teaching us but something happened and now he is on the ball.   I hope to come out of this and become a pipe welder,  or nuclear welder.  There is a nuclear welding training facility pretty close to me,  so I am thinking aabout that.