Broomwade 2x1

[PortmacStudent]

Good Evening Gents

New to the forum, I bought a small Broomwade 2x1 compressor recently, just wondered if anyone has one? I plan to use it to inflate tyres and as a workshop air / blow gun.
Looks a nicely made little piece of kit, does anyone have a manual or any further information on them please? gratefully received.
Regards

 

[Paul.]

I have one similar, I made a chassis for it and use it for blowing the bike tyres up, they don't shift a lot of air so are probably a bit lightweight for a blowgun set up, you can feel and hear the air pulsing as the piston goes up and down, I guess you could make an air receiver out of a gas cylinder to store a bit of air and smooth out the flow, mine has an adjustable pressure control (the grey knob shown in the photo) and a gauge on it, so you just set it to say 40psi and then it just blows off when its up to pressure

 

[MoreWellie]

the grey knob shown in the photo

from the pictures it looks like you both have grey knobs, just sticking out at different angles

 

[Alan Reynolds]

I hve one and it sits on a small receiver. Very well made Parts prices from Broomwade were crippling when I wanted a set of piston rings. It's got two compression and an oil control ring in mine. They wanted £50 each plus vat and postage. I found some that fitted Ebay from China for less than £10.As I recall, there wasn't much in the way of useful information on the manual.

 

[PortmacStudent]

Thanks guys, at £30 I figured it a good alternative to a box of air cans from eBay!!
Also keeps another nice bit of British engineering from the scrappers

 

[frank horton]

or one of these....

genuine ones fetch over a grand....

 

[Richard T]

Snap... I picked up one of these recently, attached to a smallish pressure vessel.

Something of a cleanup project - needed an inlet filter and the regulator/filter assembly was beyond repair, but everything else works and it's surprisingly quiet. I like restoring old things and it's certainly well made. The receiver is really interesting, it appears to have no seams, but to have been pressed from a solid billet a bit like scuba cylinders - at least, that's the only way I can think of making it. The (concave) bottom is welded in, but no other welds anywhere.

Make sure it has oil up to the level of the filler plug (SAE 30 seems to be right).

I tested mine today and it's putting out about 1.9 CFM at 50psi which should be juuuust about enough to run a small spraygun in bursts for painting bits of machinery - ie, I'm doing small areas. Solidly made, as you say (the receiver is 1/4-inch thick). I suspect servicing it, cleaning up the poppet valves and non-return valve might improve the performance a little, and if I'm feeling brave, looking at the piston rings.

I'm keeping a lookout for a larger one but this will get me going and it's quite compact.

 

[Geoffm]

I have one that my father used when we had the carpet business for running Bostich T nail guns. It is well used, i suspect 1960s vintage since we sold the carpet business in 1975.It sits by the car to top up a tyre with a slow leak. Not a lot of air, but i have run a 16 ga brad gu with it.

 

[bricol]

Impact extruding of cylinders is an impressive sight - stick a lubricated blank of ambient temp material in, bang, and voila - hot cylinder!

 

[PortmacStudent]

Does anyone have a manual?

 

[PortmacStudent]

Snap... I picked up one of these recently, attached to a smallish pressure vessel.

View attachment 252175
I like the idea of the receiver, will see how mine goes first I think


Something of a cleanup project - needed an inlet filter and the regulator/filter assembly was beyond repair, but everything else works and it's surprisingly quiet. I like restoring old things and it's certainly well made. The receiver is really interesting, it appears to have no seams, but to have been pressed from a solid billet a bit like scuba cylinders - at least, that's the only way I can think of making it. The (concave) bottom is welded in, but no other welds anywhere.

Make sure it has oil up to the level of the filler plug (SAE 30 seems to be right).

I tested mine today and it's putting out about 1.9 CFM at 50psi which should be juuuust about enough to run a small spraygun in bursts for painting bits of machinery - ie, I'm doing small areas. Solidly made, as you say (the receiver is 1/4-inch thick). I suspect servicing it, cleaning up the poppet valves and non-return valve might improve the performance a little, and if I'm feeling brave, looking at the piston rings.

I'm keeping a lookout for a larger one but this will get me going and it's quite compact.

 

[Richard T]

I hve one and it sits on a small receiver. Very well made Parts prices from Broomwade were crippling when I wanted a set of piston rings. It's got two compression and an oil control ring in mine. They wanted £50 each plus vat and postage. I found some that fitted Ebay from China for less than £10.As I recall, there wasn't much in the way of useful information on the manual.

I’d be very interested in a pointer to piston ring for-sales or any specs for them ?

Strangely, I started taking one of the poppet valves out to check it this afternoon, it seemed quite grubby and next thing I knew the whole darn compressor was spread out on the bench in its component parts. Funny how that happens. Can’t stop yourself. The spray paint work may have to wait a bit and the lathe cleanup is backed up behind that. Hmm.

 

[Richard T]

In case people are interested in the history of these -

Since I've been looking, I've seen quite a lot of this basic unit - here's what's on eBay at the moment :

It's all the same basic pump, a small but well-made (cast-iron cylinder and head) unit, small capacity, splash lube, direct drive, with a capacitor-start-run motor.

Broomwade called it the "HandiAir" or V1 (for "Vertical 1") or "2x1" (for 2" bore by 1" stroke). They did a unit with slightly bigger bore - 2-1/4" also - only the cylinder and piston is different. The basic pump was sold onto a variety of companies who added stands, receivers, filters etc, to give the range of products you see above (and mine, see higher up in the thread).

Mine is currently in bits (see the "curious bearing" thread in this part of the forum) following one of those "red mist" moments where you start taking one little valve apart, see something else that needs cleaning, and one thing leads to another. But compressors seem to be like lathes, bits of equipment where the old ones go on and on, and it's not hard to find people who used to work on them and can help you with parts etc. Hopefully it will all get back together at some point.

 

[PortmacStudent]

Thanks for the information, I’ve rigged mine up to work with the blowgun, an ancient Broomwade one from eBay, works ok for the purpose and in the long run will be cheaper than buying air duster cans

 

[The_Motorcyclist]

Just to resurrect an old thread. I have 2 of these little compressors mounted on a trolley for tyre inflation duties.

The one I have just picked up needs some attention. The spring behind one of the poppet valves has broken up among other issues. Determined to repair it as you do, does any one have the parts manual please, and any information on where to obtain parts would be much appreciated.

I enclose photos of the unit partially stripped and of it when I got it.