Anyone recognise one of these?

[julieanncharters]

with the long bolt removed you'll need a couple of thin screw drives to prise the round end cap off,gauge will still be attached.
narrow gap all round so you'll need to tap em in at 180 degrees to each other .
ali oxide will fight you all the way
have to agree the total pressure drop on tool use doesn't sound like blocked felt pads.
you'd expect pressure to be same at gauge but no or little flow @ tool.
keep us posted.

 

[tysonn]

The saga continues...................
Managed to remove the outer cover.Took ages as the parts were corroded together.Absolutely chokka with gunge.The first baffle was very difficult to remove as the calcified crap around its was like cement(once out its not even a tight fit when I come to replace it).Removed 3 thick filter pads(anyone any ideas what I could use as a substitute for these?)they were totally clogged up and I'm surprised that any air got through.Then a big O ring(both this and the outer cover O ring are still in one piece but hard so probably not good enough to put back in although they dont look as if they'll be easy to source?).The second baffle which isnt grille-like as the first one, is a solid thing with 4 holes in. This is turning out to be very difficult to shift.Its absolutely solid round its edge and stuck with this crud.I managed to get a craft knife around the edge on the top one and saw through the stuff it after bashing it a bit to break it up.The second baffle is too deep inside the housing to do this so confined to trying to cut a way through with a fine screwdriver and hammer.still on with this.Shame Hydrovane don't sell a "calcified crap dissolving liquid".

 

[lundtang]

cacified crap dissolving liquid . although technically both soluble in acids and base, aluminium oxide/hydroxide are pretty difficult to attack chemistry wise. could suggest citric acid solution with a drop of detergent or just long soaking in hot soapy water.
Try maybe, www.compressorman.co.uk for sourcing of the felt baffles. How thick are they?, i might have something stashed.

I think the main function of the baffles is oil separation. It might be worthwile to check if you get any pressure without the baffles installed. You will have a blast of oil through the outlet however it might give an indication if the problem lies somewhere else. However dont do this before Gary or julieanncharters have chimed in.

regards
andreas

 

[tysonn]

Hi Andreas I'd say the filters were maybe 3/4" thick originally?They're still half an inch now in their sodden state.As you say if the top half is in that state through probably yaers of neglect or standing what could the lower bit be like?BTW the pdf manual off Ebay arrived today.

 

[Gary900r]

I would not worry to much about the thickness of the felts the would have been pressed in when installed, but they do need to be a tight fit in the bore of the chamber. As Andreas said the function of the felts is oil separation.
Thinking about your problem now it is not blocked felts.
The gauge is before the felts in the path the air takes through the machine.
If the felts were restricting the flow then the gauge would still read high pressure when you operate your spraygun.
Either the intake valve is not opening correctly, there is a internal seal damaged or the baldes/stator are worn.
There are some seals and metal parts inside that Hydrovane no longer supply.

 

[tysonn]

So its probably not going any further?Its certainly the case that the gauge drops as soon as I use an air tool.Which is the intake valve?

 

[tysonn]

Well as I'm tight I wasn't going to throw it until I'd tried everything.The second baffle was impossible to remove being totally stuck with the crud.No means of getting behind it to knock it out and tapping the edges to free it off only pushed it further in.In the end I got a chisel and broke it across the middle.The stuff underneath was like old dried putty.Nothing could have got through it.It can always be welded up later.I made new gaskets from some thick black felt designed for under old car dashboards.8 disks of it in total.Replaced these gaskets and the baffles and large O rings.Made new paper gaskets for the air chamber.The result is that its pumping air like a good'un!Virtually instant to 100psi.When I press the trigger on the gun or blowgun it does drop but steadies around 50psi.I can see oil movement in the little windows.Things in mind are that I aren't hopeful that the gasket material will sufficiently remove every last trace of oil.Will try using some old celly paint I have on an old panel to see if theres any fisheyes etc.Any suggestions of something more suitable to use as filters?Also noticed that the unit seems quite hot(had it running for maybe 45 minutes) and that on switch off theres a small puff of white smoke from the oil filter.Is this normal?
Anyway up to now its certainly more like a compressor than a lump of ballast!

 

[Gary900r]

Sorry not been able to get back to you this week , I have been busy installing 2 water lubricated compressors.
The way to test for oil being passed is to run the machine. Open the outlet valve until the gauge holds at 100psi. Hold a bit of white card or paper(may need a board behind it) about 30cm from the valve directly in the air flow. Hold it there for a minute. Then examine the card you should not see any traces of oil on the paper. A test nozzle should be used but this will tell you if there is a major problem.
There was always a tiny percentage of oil passing out of these machines so two stages of filtration were normally installed.
Hydrovanes will run around 65 C above ambient temperature.

 

[tysonn]

Will give that a try.Have to figure out some way of measuring the temp,too hot to touch.

 

[lundtang]

Regarding the baffle material. What I would worry about would be the melting point of the felt. synthetic felt may melt at 90°C whereas felt made of natural fiber will have a higher melting point. Try boiling a piece of it and see what happens.

/andreas

 

[tysonn]

Well it wouldnt be a problem now replacing the felt.Any ideas of what may be better/more effective/safer?

 

[lundtang]

I would just be worried about having melted felt driven into vanes by the oil.

The felt you have might be sufficient, Gary might have another opinion however.

/andreas

 

[julieanncharters]

well there ya go diagnosis of the patient was correct after all
good effort in getting the thing apart they can really test ya sometimes.
have yer thought of boiling the pads you've got with some washing powder.
always worth a go they might reclaim.
ATB elfyn

 

[tysonn]

Only the 3 in the first chamber were maybe re-useable after cleaning.I only got the others out by breaking them up.My mate has one of those laser temp reading thingys and I'm going to use it to read the temp as it seems far too hot to me.Certainly more that 65 above ambient.