That free air compressir my little buddy Jesse found and gave me turned out to need about fifty cents worth of parts to fix.
Other than the sixteen freaking dollars for one quart of Air Compressor Oil I bough off of Amazon.
Turns out it is a SEARS compressor expressly made for spraying paint.
Here’s what it looked like new.
The stickers are even still on it and the paint is in great shape!
Mine even has a large pressure regulator sticking out the discharge side of the tank, along with two quick disconnect fittings plumbed in before it and it also has 20 feet of hose with another quick disconnect that actually fits my air tools.
It would work but when it got up to about 40 psi it would start making all kinds of racket.
Enough that I shut it off..
I went to adjust the belt after I changed the 2 ounces of oil I found in it today and found this,
The set screw and the shear key were both missing off the drive pulley.
After I dug around in my extensive collection of stuff a few minutes I came up with both.
Total cost there, mostly zero except the set screw was in a kit I bought from Harbor Freight a few years ago. I had a used key in a small plastic storage box with removable drawers,.along with a whole bunch of others. I didn’t even have to cut it.
After I put it together I plugged it in again and it pumped up to 100 psi and shut off.
I went and checked it a few minutes ago and it has held pressure all day.
I gotta love lazy and stupid people who throw perfectly good equipment out on the sidewalk instead of taking two minutes to figure out what’s wrong with it.
I’ll take those kinds of deals all day.
“lazy and stupid people who throw perfectly good equipment out.” They gave you a free gift. Careful, Karma can be a bitch!
Karma is how I got it in the first place.
It was looking for Phil, that’s good Karma
I have a son who resembles that! (discarding what could be fixed)
Hopefully as he ages he will grow to appreciate taking care of tools, hardware & equipment.
He has 3 sons and 2 grandsons already, so I can spoil them with tools and equipment.
Amen. I curbside picked a very nice little Rollair compressor (nice and quiet, compared to modern shit you find at home Depot and Harbor Freight) that needed very little work to get up and running perfectly again. It needed a power cord, and some of the aluminum distribution tubing replaced (all dented up in one spot), plus a new start capacitor on the motor and new oil, and a new filter/dryer.
I’ve used the hell out of that little compressor, and it works great. I even piped it up to a good 50G water heater I pulled out on a replacement job, and modified that for use as an air storage tank (with proper pressure relief valve).
Don’t use water heater tanks to store compressed air, the piston pulsations work harden them and they explode into little pieces. Instead, use propane tanks.
Most today would have no idea where to even start diagnosing it. Worse still, many wouldn’t recognize what it is or what can be done with it. Not a single youngster I work with would even want to know.
My father got a free riding lawnmower (Sears brand) like that. Ran great for five minutes and then stalled. Turned out the gas tank cap vent hole was plugged with mud. Scarped it out and used it for a decade. Sometimes it’s not stupid people. Maybe he just wanted a new one and could only convince the wife if the old one was broken…sorry if I just let the cat out of the bad for some of y’all.
I do so love a happy ending.
50 cents of parts and thousands of dollars worth of knowledge.
I got a small compressor years ago at work like that. It was an integral part of a piece of test equipment. The thing was making a horrendous noise whenever it fired up, so the maintenance department ordered a new one from the equipment mfg. for a ton of money. I grabbed the old one that they were throwing away to see if I could do anything with it. As soon as I removed the cover it was obvious that the armature was hitting the cover by the scuff marks on it. The problem was that the set screw loosened up and the armature slid over on the shaft about a 1/2″. The only thing that it cost me to fix was about 15 minutes total time.
In ’79 I bought a yellow ’70 Mach 1 Mustang for $275 since the owner assured me the block was cracked because it was leaking anti freeze. Turned out that Ford did not do a good job of cleaning casting sand out of the block and after a time it caused the frost plugs to wear thin and leak. The motor got all new gaskets and I put a rebuild kit in the transmission and drove it for a year. One of the nicest riding cars I ever owned. 351 Cleveland 2 bbl and yet it had good get up and go. I ended up selling it because I needed the money to drag race. Still wish I had been able to keep that car.
Years ago, son son ran an ad, “Will pick up your broken snowblower”.
He had a Grand Am at the time and would roll in with snowblowers in the trunk, the backseat.
30 in total.
28 of them needed fresh fuel.
I like working on small engines, I just hate their owners.
Right on. I’ve gained 4 snow blowers (redistributed to those who needed them) and 3 nice portable generators that all needed little more than carb service, due to stale fuel having been left in them.
I can purchase AV Gas at the local airport. 100 octane, pure fuel. If nobody has messed with it, I’ll just let it soak for week with fresh fuel. 9 out of 10 will fire right up.
It’s all I use on my 2 cycle mix, so long as it doesn’t have a catalytic converter.
I got a Milwaukee Magnum Holeshooter out of the scrap bin at a place I worked at years ago. I just figured I’d use it for parts, in case my father’s drill had something happen to it. Just out of curiosity I got poking around and found the brushes were smoked right out of it. Easy fix as that model drill came with a spare set of brushes stored inside of it. A free $150 drill just for the time it took to swap brushes.
I also got a car for $125 because it was supposed to have a bad headgasket. Their reasoning was because the radiator blew out, it had to have been over pressurized by leaking compression. Turns out it the radiator had just rotted to the point it didn’t have any fins left in it – then failed. $160 for a radiator and the wife drove it for five years.
I could list a few more, but trust me – I’m typically not the type that stumbles across deals.
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
Last couple times compressors died at the worst time. Bought new, kept the old. Professor Google always has the answer. Boken compressor sits on the shelf until the price of repair parts come down. Very satisfying to pass on repaired compressors to graceful people.
Amen bro! We benefit mightily from the throw away society. Let’s keep it that way.
I did the same with 3 pancake compressors that some roofer dumped. Took em apart, cleaned up, adjusted and 2 of 3 worked just fine, the third required an new dial in shutoff valve and over pressure safety. The safety on it kept venting at 60 PSI when the unit was good to 140 for general use. Even found new label set for the model on fleabay for not much money. That third unit is my backup or for the air nailer. Gave the others away to son and a neighbor. Don’t think I spent more than 30 bucks for all needed parts plus some elbow grease.
Years ago, garage sale, McClain 7 blade reel mower, walk behind edger, 10 dolla eaa. Boom boom long tym.
Cleaned carbs, front yard near putting turf, soft for years. Barefoot was a dream
Gave to a friend who would appreciate. Last I heard some motor from harbor freight to re-resurect. Boom boom for longer tym. Only bitch is sharpening blades each year or finding someone to sharpen.
I also have this exact same air compressor – but with the OG plastic cover over the regulator etc. Just like this one https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/972727915283037/
Also found on side of road, with sign that said “FREE”. Got it home, found every time it was up to pressure, then used, and tried to restart the motor to get the pressure back up – it would trip the 15A breaker on the circuit.
I suspected motor starting current dropped voltage enough to trip breaker so least-cost first thing to change was the power cord from 16 or 18 ga to new 3-wire, 14 ga stranded that I happened to have saved from some other dead tool. After that the motor started every time it needed to without tripping the breaker.
Great find. Easy fix. Amazed what people toss out that is easily repaired. They don’t even try.