A little air compressor project

[Shoreline_]

So originally I was going to ask work if I could take an early 2000's Atlas Copco GA5 that's been sitting in the back for 8 years untouched for my garage. It's a 200v machine and missing a cover so it's never going to be a loaner unless there was one customer that needed a 7.5hp and had sagging 208 mains. It's a really sweet machine, quiet, very robust but it's about the size of a washing machine so more difficult to place. It's also belt driven and has some rubber hoses that are craaaazy expensive to replace if they ever go. A couple months ago we had a customer give us 2 Sullair ES6 because they replaced it. These would be 10hp encapsulated screw type compressors with hard oil lines. Of the two one was locked up in the air end and the other had a bad bearing. I took home the one with a bad bearing and maybe some of you might be interested how they look inside. You can see how compact they are.



So i was really hoping it was the opposite shaft end bearing which is easy to get to but after removing the cooler and the end housing it was the air end side bearing. So I remove the sump housing, split off the air end, remove the pump, and pull out the rotor



Sure enough the bearing is pretty bad. New bearing is 17 dollars. When it comes in I'll take some pictures of reassembling it.

 

[Shoreline_]

Well finally got around to putting on the new bearing. Picked one of the hottest days of the week. The old one was shot. And I've been tripping over these parts for a few weeks now. Used the ol toaster bearing heater and got it hot and slid on first try. Then just re assembly of the *** end. I sorta bent the cooling fan taking it off but I'm going to use variable speed for this compressor and it's not good to variable speed the cooling fan unless it has its own routine. So I may do something different for the cooling fan but for now I'll dig through the junk pile at work looking for a fan. Next week when it cools off it's time to put the air end back on. Gonna need a fresh bottle of 515. The air end plate is sandwiched between the sump cover and the motor front housing so everything has to be gooped, aligned and ready to install all within the setup window of 515.

 

[Shoreline_]

Finally finished putting it together with 515 sealer. I'll let it sit overnight and start finishing up the oil lines and fill it with oil and see if it leaks anywhere. This weekend I'll bring it down to the shop with 3 phase and give it a work out. If all passes I'll order a drive for my shop and I'll work on getting it variable speed.

 

[Shoreline_]

Well the test ran went good and bad. I custom rigged up some controls because I don't care much for how the factory does it. I actually had to switch out that black 2 way valve with an expensive Parker because the black eBay valve was bad. Kinda throwing me for a loop to get it to load.



Found a leak at the inlet which was an easy fix. But turns out I forgot to tighten one flange bolt and the 515 already cured so even tightening it wasn't fixing anything. Today after a day out with my wife I'm gonna drain the oil and reseal. I had to test run it at the back of the work van because the shop with 3 phase to test it didn't have a working forklift.



But it's pretty compact and wasn't bad. Even with the leak she made plenty of internal pressure before the min pressure check valve opened. I think it's safe to order the variable speed drive.

 

[Beerhippie]

What pressure are you running? The white PE tubing doesn't play nice above ~150 psi--and doesn't like heat or sunlight. I'd also be wary of the plastic push-fit connectors--I use brass ones for anything over 100 psi.

I'd replumb the entire system with copper and flare/compression fittings.

 

[Shoreline_]

What pressure are you running? The white PE tubing doesn't play nice above ~150 psi--and doesn't like heat or sunlight. I'd also be wary of the plastic push-fit connectors--I use brass ones for anything over 100 psi.

I'd replumb the entire system with copper and flare/compression fittings.

I am running 110 psi. Do you work on air compressors? I haven't met a fellow air compressor tech yet on this forum.

 

[Beerhippie]

I am running 110 psi. Do you work on air compressors? I haven't met a fellow air compressor tech yet on this forum.

Not by choice. I work with compressed air and gas delivery for a brewery so have more than a passing acquaintance with what materials do and don't work well with pressure and heat. We have hundreds of push-fit fittings. Brass for the high side, sometimes nylon for the low side of the regulators. Our primary regs are set at 125 psi and most secondaries are 30 or less. Anything on the compressor side of our primaries is copper line.

 

[Shoreline_]

Not by choice. I work with compressed air and gas delivery for a brewery so have more than a passing acquaintance with what materials do and don't work well with pressure and heat.

Ohh ok lol.

Lemme know what you think about this pe tubing comes from the factory. You seem like an air compressor expert.