Maintaining an old, giant, electric compressor

[Tremelune]

I'm looking to buy my last compressor, and I've only ever owned a 120v "maintenance free" little Craftsman. There's a Saylor Beall 707 for sale that's over 20 years old that would do me...Biggest job it would perform would be one person media blasting and maybe some paint.

What would I realistically be taking on here? Am I buying another old car I'll need to fix up and pay attention to? How do I know if this one is a "good" one?

I don't have much room for niche knowledge and tools of another uncommon machine's inner workings, but if they're not something I need to think about every month, this might work out well for me vs a new Quincy with much lower specs.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

It's a top of the line machine. 20years isn't that old if it has been taken care of. The only special tool would be to remove the valves if necessary, and that would be easy to make. It should handle a blast cabinet with ease. The simplest health check is to listen to it run. Any knocking from the bottom end is not good. The best thing to check is the interstage pressure. If you can screw in some gauges you should see no bouncing around and a reading around 40psi-ish. If it reads low, or zero, or bounces around, there is a valve problem. If the interstage pressure matches tank pressure, your high pressure valves are shot. If it reads zero or very low, your low pressure valves are shot.

 

[Packard V8]

Old? 20 years? I got T-shirts oldern' that.

In my shop, that would be one of the newer machines.

Bottom line, a 20-year-old Saylor Beal which had scheduled maintenance should run forever in a home shop. OTOH, if it sat in the corner of a busy tire shop and ran 12 hours a day for 20 years without an oil or filter change, it could be completely worn out. No way for those here to give an accurate guess.

jack vines

 

[Tremelune]

That is encouraging! I guess I'll give it a look-see and ask some questions. Thanks!

 

[mike93lx]

It is a very capable machine, but if you have gotten by with a little compressor, do you really need a monster? Compressed air is very expensive to make and you are talking about going from something like a 1-2hp motor up to 5+hp. Plus a huge footprint.

I have been very happy with quiet over size and am glad I sold my 60 gal 3hp to get a 4.6 gal CAT that is super quiet and portable

 

[bob15]

Look at the serial tag on my compressor. Twenty years old is a new.....

 

[Tremelune]

I'm getting into media blasting, and while this monster will be more than I need, everything I've read says more is better...I figured I'd buy once, cry once, and then cry every time I move for the rest of my life...

Is the last number in the serial the year? That's wild.

 

[bob15]

I'm getting into media blasting, and while this monster will be more than I need, everything I've read says more is better...I figured I'd buy once, cry once, and then cry every time I move for the rest of my life...

Is the last number in the serial the year? That's wild.

Yes, Jan 1961. It is a 20+ cfm compressor

 

[oldmachinenut]

Look at the serial tag on my compressor. Twenty years old is a new.....

My Quincy 310/Gilbarco 60 gallon is 1947 and runs every day!