Melben Products Air Compressor Circa 1974

[Anonymyz]

I bought an old air compressr off a guy put a new pressure switch and it worked fine until last night. now it seems to have issues starting and stopping and is blowing the garage circuit. i have no experinece with compressors or even know where to start. i do know it has a one HP AC motor

 

[930dreamer]

The pic is for the tank manufacturer, post some pics of the complete compressor.

 

[Anonymyz]

Here are some shots of the compressor along with the head cap removed.....its definately been used very well but for the price i cant complain if i have to put a lil work into it.....

 

[Anonymyz]

Any idea what type of compressor this is and where i could possibly find a gasket if not rebuild kit?

 

[Anonymyz]

was cleaning the old gasket material off with a wire wheel on my drill and found these numbers under the layers and layers of paint

 

[mikegt4]

That is a typical 1970-80s Campbell Hausfeld compressor with a VT series pump. They own Melben who makes their tanks. Parts are available but some are "obsolete" and only found NOS.

 

[The Cobbler]

in the picture it looks like you have a long thin gauge extension cord, were you running the compressor on that?

 

[Anonymyz]

no im not...i run it off a thicker extension chord not in the picture....i found out its a VT series pump so i got a replacement gasket kit . after scraping off the old gasket material and installing the new ones i hear an air leak on the non pulley side of the head. i took it back apart used some gasket maker around the outter edges retightened the bolts back down and still have an airleak....with the compressor on i can still feel air coming out of the non pulley side where the head and cylinder shafts meet.....any other ideas on how to fix that air leak? only goes up to about 40psi before it stops building pressure

 

[mikegt4]

Check for the "flatness" of the mating surfaces, you may have some warped parts.

 

[Anonymyz]

Heres a pic of where ive confirmed the leak...metal on metal there is only a .002 difference left side in the areas where i feel the leak which the gasket SHOULD compensate for... i can feel a large amount of air coming from the lower left corner and the upper left side and wont go past 25psi. ......ive also tried using washer on those left side bolts and doubling up the gasket to no avail.....the piston rings were reset and and staggered the only other thing i can think of are the reeds but i am having issues trying to loosen those very small bolts? holding the reeds on.....since they are hex head i would assume they are screw/bolts and not rivets.....and no one seems to sell a 5mm wrench unless i go online....sockets of that size havent worked to the heads of those bolts being so small

 

[Anonymyz]

That is a typical 1970-80s Campbell Hausfeld compressor with a VT series pump. They own Melben who makes their tanks. Parts are available but some are "obsolete" and only found NOS.

i have found a few sites that sell "universal rebuild kits" i guess Campbell, speedaire, wards and a few others had this same style pump so the gaskets and reeds are a one size fit all type of deal....so i was told by a former speedaire salesman/ technical support guy from grainger ( btw these guys are a rip)...

 

[y'sguy]

Interesting! I have a similar compressor that I am also working on like that and it is a SEARS. Has the same tank plate, and looks like the same pump and head. I purchased gaskets online for from Sears. Using a #106153542 for the mod #.
However I have since found out the crankshaft and one of the rods are damaged from a lack of oil sometime in the past.
It was running fine and building pressure but blowing oil into the tank and lines (not good). It looks like to me mines not worth trying to fix the pump, may just either buy a whole new rig or at least a whole new pump. I should have left well enough alone!

 

[y'sguy]

On mine the reeds are rivited on, not screwed on.

 

[Pavedog]

I also have one of these but the original compressor motor is long gone. At some point my grandfather replaced it with an oversized motor/compressor I believe off of a large shop compressor tank. Currently going through the rebuild process myself.

Trying to figure out how to separate the pumps(2) from either side of the motor.

 

[Roberts210]

Judging by the orange color under the blue it might be a Monkey Ward. This one was born in 1978:

Mine has a 2-HP 220 motor on it. 1 HP seems too small IMO.
The reed valves on this one were screwed on.