Air compressor balancing.

[3v0]

Have a common 1.5 HP single stage 2 cylinder compressor. A friends father cobbled it together. Problem is it vibrates too much. I expect that if I were to bolt it to the floor bad things would happen.

One option is to put it on a wood platform and let it vibrate in place. Either chain the base to the wall or surround it with angle iron.

The other would be to balance the compressor. Seems on only need balance the compressor pulley. Sounds odd.

Any ideas out there?

Dan

 

[American Locomotive]

Nothing bad will happen from bolting it down. Many people just sit their compressors down on rubber pads.

Basically it's impossible to perfectly balance an Inline-2 compressor (or engine) without the use of fancy balance shafts. I'm not going to get too much into it, but basically a piston near the top of the cylinder accelerates faster than a piston at the bottom of a cylinder. This causes a vibration.

It's normally not too much of a problem, but some higher speed compressors on smaller tanks can walk around.

 

[3v0]

I have owned a few and seen many similar compressors operate. This is not normal. Maybe the best option is to swap out the head and not mess with it.

 

[Jswain]

Could always try slowing down the rpm a touch by decreasing the size of the pulley on the electric motor, perhaps he has it spinning too fast.

Could also remove the flywheel from the compressor and ensure the crankshaft & ID of the flywheel are clean & free of rust etc. Then reinstall and tighten back down, align up the two pulleys with a straight edge.

I would not bolt the unit down but a proper rubber vibration damper foot makes a world of a difference and if it has two wheels on it make sure they are shimmed with washers to be just loose enough to roll without a tonne of wobble

 

[3v0]

Good idea on slowing it down. Could well be the thing is running too fast as it is cobbled together. I am also going to adjust the max pressure down to 100 PSI. 2 cast iron feet no wheels. Will be ording some isolation pads.

Thanks

 

[xjfish]

The pads/feet seem to help a lot. I think I got a set for mine on ebay. Home-molded rubber.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Sounds like it might have the wrong flywheel on it.