Day by Day cartoon

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Now accepting donations!

A few weeks back, while I was off work and working on my workshop roof, I came out one morning to the sound of my air compressor running and air leaking. Seems that the pressure regulator had ruptured and the compressor had been running for quite a long time. There was oil flung all over the shop floor and the room was warmed up uncomfortably from the heat coming off the pump. So I turned everything off, replaced the pressure regulator and changed out the little bit of oil still in the crankcase of the pump. It was pretty nasty looking oil, believe me!

Afterwards the compressor worked but the pump sounded like a bucket of hammers sitting on a paint shaker. It just made horrible noises every time it kicked on. I knew its life was nearly over and would need replacement. This past weekend I tried to buy a pump from Harbor Freight but the pulleys were incompatible and I could not figure out where to get the right one to match their pump to my motor, so I returned it.

My compressor's a Craftsman model so I looked up the new pump. Its $283 plus tax! Yikes! Since I'm just now getting back to work, this is a bit more than I can spare right now, even though Sears says the have the part in stock and ready to ship.

Last night I took it apart to see if I might be able to just perform a minor overhaul, maybe put in some new rings and crank bearings to make it good. But there are no crank bearings and new rings won't work in the cylinder that's worn as badly as this one. Check out the pics:












(As always, you can see the biggie size by clicking on the small pics.)

There's no sense trying to put parts into this worn out pump. It almost appears that somebody ran a hone through the cylinders sometime before I bought it used 6 years ago. But this block is shot and machine work to fix it would be more costly than replacing it.

So if you owe me a birthday present or two, or if you're feeling generous 'just because', I'll take any donations you care to send my way. Heck, I'd even be willing to put donor's names on my compressor as sponsors!

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