Air compressor project

[Sam0117]

So I've acquired this air compressor from my dad, he's had it awhile but upgraded to a much better one now so I've now got it. And to be honest I'm over the moon, its so quiet you can stand next to it and talk to someone it's that quiet.

So I want to overhaul the compressor before I put it into use as my dad does like to abuse his stuff abit, I believe he's been putting engine oil in to top it up so that's my first bug bear :S but id like to find more info on it and if possible drawings for bore tolerances/ring sizes/CFM and things of that nature. Now the tank says its a ben patents compressor but the plate on the compressor says its a J&E HALL???

So im not sure if this is a mix match of a compressor or how it was original. If anyone can point me in the right direction or anyone who may have drawings for this or any info at all would be much appreciated.

that's the air inlet filter so need to replace this somehow too. Something I find strange is to me it looks like I'm able to throttle the inlet and outlet, not 100% as to why you would want that, surely you'd wont full bore on both??

that's the plate on top of the tank.

I've looked for awhile online and cant find this pump anywhere or anyone who has something close so I know this is a long shot but I'm hoping someone may know something.

Regards

Sam

 

[eil]

Its more than likely a refrigeration compressor, that's a inlet strainer in your hand, you can open and close the king valves on the compressor to service the system. Someone has used a fridge compressor to make an air compressor there.

 

[andymfell]

J& E Hall are still in existance founded in 1886
(Head Office)
Questor House
191 Hawley Road
Dartford
Kent DA1 1PU
England
T: + 44 (0) 1322 394420

E: helpline@jehall.co.uk

www.jehall.com

https://www.jehall.com/spare-parts-remanufactured-compressors/parts

 

[Sam0117]

Its more than likely a refrigeration compressor, that's a inlet strainer in your hand, you can open and close the king valves on the compressor to service the system. Someone has used a fridge compressor to make an air compressor there.

thanks for that, makes more sense it’s a mixed match of parts lol well it’s lasted this long so I’m gonna keep it as is, I’ll look into it more in the morning now

thank you

 

[Sam0117]

J& E Hall are still in existance founded in 1886
(Head Office)
Questor House
191 Hawley Road
Dartford
Kent DA1 1PU
England
T: + 44 (0) 1322 394420

E: helpline@jehall.co.uk

www.jehall.com

https://www.jehall.com/spare-parts-remanufactured-compressors/parts

thank you andymfell, I shall be looking at this tomorrow, weird how someone has put a fridge pump on but it does the job lol

 

[Wallace]

That is a nice piece of equipment. If it has low hours a strip and service would keep it running for years.

 

[brightspark]

thank you andymfell, I shall be looking at this tomorrow, weird how someone has put a fridge pump on but it does the job lol

i had one i made up from an industrial fridge pump you could pick them up for peanuts and build one

 

[andymfell]

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/B._E._N._Patents

 

[Wallace]

i had one i made up from an industrial fridge pump you could pick them up for peanuts and build one

Big old start run capacitors on there, what type would they be?

 

[Sam0117]

Big old start run capacitors on there, what type would they be?

hi Wallace

honestly have no idea atm, had to clean all the plates just to get the info, thought I’d leave the caps alone for now as the do work lol but the motor is a 230v and 10.3 amps might be able to change them for smaller ones lol I’m gonna assume now the tank motor an pump are all from different things so once I get time I’ll refurb the lot as I don’t quite like the purple lol

 

[brightspark]

if its not broke dont fix it .why would you want to change the caps for no reason if it starts and runs leave well alone

 

[frank horton]

looks like the inlet filter is gauze....just wash it out in petrol / diesel, then wipe over with a drop of engine oil.....
and re use....
drain the comp of it's lube oil and replace that....I just use synth D engine oil in all of mine.....
prob the motor will have an oil dropper at each end for the bearings...give them a drop and
LEAVE ALONE.....it will last for years as is....
oh, just make sure the drain tap on the tank is working OK and of course the tank is drained of water/condensation....
then ur done.....
nice one.....

 

[Sam0117]

looks like the inlet filter is gauze....just wash it out in petrol / diesel, then wipe over with a drop of engine oil.....
and re use....
drain the comp of it's lube oil and replace that....I just use synth D engine oil in all of mine.....
prob the motor will have an oil dropper at each end for the bearings...give them a drop and
LEAVE ALONE.....it will last for years as is....
oh, just make sure the drain tap on the tank is working OK and of course the tank is drained of water/condensation....
then ur done.....
nice one.....

Hi Frank,

I haven’t really paid much attention to the motor, good spot on the oil droppers I’ll pop some in later

I’ve attached pic of the end of the filter, like you said it is just gauze the ends abit battered as I quess someone has slammed it in there at some point lol I’ll give it a good clean in a engine wash gonna go get some fittings next week as my dad took them off for his new one so can’t use it fully.

 

[Cobbler]

i had one i made up from an industrial fridge pump you could pick them up for peanuts and build one

I made (bodged) one up years ago from one of those old ice cream freezers with the double rubber lid & a gas cylinder. I used it for bits & pieces for many years until I was offered something better.

 

[Sam0117]

So time for a update, thanks to admin for changing the thread title

I decided to take the compressor off today and start dismantling and see what was hiding inside.



When I lifted it off the tank there was abit of oil under the compressor which got me abit worried but my dad said he's never seen oil leaking around it so hopefully it was nothing. I gave it a clean underneath but found no major cracks or anything but the bearing housing on the one side has some oil underneath so I'm gonna address that too.



I started with removing the pully and this would not budge, its retained with a washer bolt and locking tab so I was hoping it would just slide off......yeah that didn't happen so I've got my little puller on it and still.......nothing, unfortunately I havent got anyway of heating it up at the moment, really need to get a MAP gas for things like this, got one at work so ill borrow that next week. I've left the pressure on and used some WD40 to try get it off ill check in the morning. So I moved onto the rest of the tear down.

Removed the inlet and outlet King valves and that's when I saw this



the outlet from the compressor :S I didn't like the look of this, not 100% on how long its been like this but the insides of the valve have been removed unlike the inlet valve and so it was sorter acting like a water oil trap as the air had to go up but as you will see I don't know where the oil has come from as to me the bores and ring are amazing still.



Off with the head and valve body, so removed all the bolts on top and tried prying the head off but damn that gasket was on there good, what ever they used to put them on with was good stuff, here's a question, should I make new gaskets out of copper or high temp paper?? still cant make my mind up atm. haven't scraped the old stuff off yet to see if it had some sort of sealant on it too.
So the head is abit dirty and flakes of paint in various places on the inlet side and sediment in the valves so was defiantly worth stripping down to give it a good clean. will use my dads engine cleaner to give it a good clean.

Another thing I don't like is the internal filter, look at original post for pics of that, its abit battered and doesn't seem to filter 100% of the air coming in which is what must of caused all this grime in the head, so I'm thinking to remove that filter and put an external filter for ease of changing and cleaning.

Now this is what I was most surprised at



How clean them bores are :O I really thought these would be in need of some repair but that's mint in my book.

 

[Sam0117]

continuted

SO like I said not 100% on how there was so much oil in the outlet valve unless its just from years and year of operation, like i said i dunno how ling this has been like it.



piston tops are awesome too, only thing I can see is they've very slightly been hitting the the reed valves, you can just make the impressions out on the pistons. not sure if this is from incorrect gasket size or bearing wear. so I took the leaking end plate off next just to check.

you can see some of the gasket is missing on the bottom so that must of been my oil underneath. so the end of the crank shaft feels and looks good and I tried feeling for ant float on the rod ends and pistons but nothing i can feel by hand so I'm happy with them

Now this is where I'm not 100% again, the housing the crank shaft is is is metal on metal an that ring you can see sitting on the crank shaft delivers that oil to the housing and crank shaft for lubrication

this is the housing.........



so I'm gonna say 30% of the housing looks good, the rest I'm not sure if its just poor casting and wasn't enough to machine a proper bore or if it is indeed worn. like I said the crank looks and feels good, I feel I might have to fully pull the crack and pistons out and get a measurement to be 100% incase it is worn, the inside is pretty dirty to from what ever has been put in the in the years, so that all needs to be cleaned out too.

this was as far as I got today, sorry its information overload but I'm really enjoying this and its my first at home overhaul so I need to get a few things in to complete this project so bear with me for if this takes awhile.

hope your all safe and well

Sam

 

[Submariner1]

continuted

SO like I said not 100% on how there was so much oil in the outlet valve unless its just from years and year of operation, like i said i dunno how ling this has been like it.

View attachment 269742 View attachment 269743

piston tops are awesome too, only thing I can see is they've very slightly been hitting the the reed valves, you can just make the impressions out on the pistons. not sure if this is from incorrect gasket size or bearing wear. so I took the leaking end plate off next just to check. View attachment 269744

you can see some of the gasket is missing on the bottom so that must of been my oil underneath. so the end of the crank shaft feels and looks good and I tried feeling for ant float on the rod ends and pistons but nothing i can feel by hand so I'm happy with them

Now this is where I'm not 100% again, the housing the crank shaft is is is metal on metal an that ring you can see sitting on the crank shaft delivers that oil to the housing and crank shaft for lubrication

this is the housing.........

View attachment 269748 View attachment 269749 View attachment 269750

so I'm gonna say 30% of the housing looks good, the rest I'm not sure if its just poor casting and wasn't enough to machine a proper bore or if it is indeed worn. like I said the crank looks and feels good, I feel I might have to fully pull the crack and pistons out and get a measurement to be 100% incase it is worn, the inside is pretty dirty to from what ever has been put in the in the years, so that all needs to be cleaned out too.

this was as far as I got today, sorry its information overload but I'm really enjoying this and its my first at home overhaul so I need to get a few things in to complete this project so bear with me for if this takes awhile.

hope your all safe and well

Sam

really nice to see .... after all that work ... you are going to give it a nice pretty spray job? I hope.
So she is returned to full glory?

 

[Seadog]

so I'm gonna say 30% of the housing looks good, the rest I'm not sure if its just poor casting and wasn't enough to machine a proper bore or if it is indeed worn.

I doubt that that was how it came from the factory. It looks like rust pitting from what I can see.

 

[Cuthy246]

Be careful with the gaskets, given the age it may well be asbestos

 

[Sam0117]

really nice to see .... after all that work ... you are going to give it a nice pretty spray job? I hope.
So she is returned to full glory?

Most definitely no point doing all that to make it looks pants still, just not sure what colours to go, any suggestion?? I’m currently deciding weather I do the motor an tank aswell now or just the compressor for now.