PSYKO's Shop Shenanigans

[PSYKO_Inc]

Ok so I've been posting my goings-on in several different threads lately, and decided to make a thread to kind of consolidate things in case anyone was interested (if you're reading this, you must be really bored ) Anyways, if you don't know me, I'm Jay, I'll be 34 next month, and just hit my 14 year mark in the Air Force. I'm originally from NC, but have lived in northern California for the last 9 years. In this thread you'll likely find car stuff, electronics, ham radio, tools, and shop equipment. The first couple posts will be me catching up on the last couple weeks, and I'll just keep going as time goes on. So come on into the garage, pull up a chair, and grab yourself a cold one out of the fridge And hand me that 9/16 willya?

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

So one of my current projects is putting together a compressed air setup. I sold my 10 year old Harbor Freight compressor about a month or so ago to a friend that really needed one. Picked up an old broken Sears compressor on CL for $10 a couple days later. You can read about it in this thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329030 Since my last post over there, I got it put together and test fired. Bad news, the second pump is also shot. Gonna pick up a gasket set and new valves, and hope I can build one good pump out of two bad ones. More updates coming up...

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Couple updates from the garage sale thread. About 2 weeks ago I got a 30 gallon tank and dual stage pump (locked up) for free. Tank was built in 1946 and has 3/16 wall thickness. Score! (pic 1) Also came with a water trap and 2 regulators, all made by Binks. Last weekend I hit some yard sales and scored a Ryobi belt sander, Lincoln welding hood, and a Harbor Freight mill vise for $18. Also got an Olympia pipe wrench and an old Heathkit tube o-scope for $5 each (pics 2 and 3.)

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Yesterday I scored a pair of Doerr 2hp motors on CL for $50. Going to use one for the compressor, not sure what to do with the other one yet (pic 1.) Today's yard sale finds, Channellocks, Peterson vise grips, and a wire wheel, $4 (pic 2.) Also stopped by HF and picked up a water trap, short length of air hose, and some fittings.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

So moving forward, I have that 30g tank that seems rock solid, and I also have a brand new 2hp motor for it. Just need a pump. Ideally I'd like to find an old American made pump that I could slow down to work with the motor I have. Would like to upgrade to a 5hp, but the ones I've found are either 3 phase, or way out of budget. My other option for a pump is one of the Chinese pumps from somewhere like HF. I figure 2 real hp is probably 5 Chinese hp, but it's kind of a gamble since it's hard to get accurate specs. If I can piece together a working VT pump, I'll mount it up on one of the 20g tanks with the 1.5hp motor for a secondary setup. The thought is if I need more volume, I can have 2 compressors running, for hopefully around 15cfm. For lighter demand, I can run whichever is quieter.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Today's shenanigans: hit a couple Sunday sales, picked up a Pony bar clamp and an extra 3' pipe for another Pony clamp that I have in the garage, $5. Got a sign that the wife thought would be perfect for my garage, $1, and a Craftsman C3 flashlight from the thrift store for $1. Gotta find a new bulb for it. Also recharged the AC in the wife's Vue. The compressor has a small leak but hopefully I can get another season out of it. Had to rent a set of AC gauges from Auto Zone. My Mac gauges are set up for r12, and I've got the couplers and can tap for r134a, but I bought a 30lb keg of refrigerant and didn't have the right fitting. No place in town had one, so I had to make do with rental gauges for now. Got the job done though, kinda feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. Ordered the proper fitting on Amazon, so it should get here in the next couple days, gotta do a compressor on my daily driver soon so it'll be good to have everything I need. It's going to be nice to have at least one car (out of 4) with working AC.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Weekend update. Picked up yet another compressor on CL on Thursday night. 20g Sears "4hp" model. This one actually works and came with a filter/regulator and 2 air hoses, $25. The motor is 15 amps, so realistically maybe 3hp. Seller also gave me a Campbell Hausfeld impact in new condition for $7. I find it odd that this compressor has the same size pulleys as my earlier model 1.5hp compressor, which has the pump turning at about 690 rpm. I should throw an amp meter on the power cord and see if it's really using that 3hp. If not, I may swap on one of the 2hp motors (or grab the 1.5hp motor off my table saw and repower the saw with a 2hp. I do like having the option of running the saw on 120v though, so I'm undecided) and use the 3hp on my 30 gallon tank with a bigger pump. Also picked up a couple water traps at the thrift store, among other things. One of them rattles, so I'll have to take them apart to see what's going on, but I've got 3 bucks invested in the pair. I emailed a guy on CL earlier in the week about what looked like a Saylor Beall 705, but he never emailed me back (yet the ad is still up.) Really had my hopes up on that one. Gonna try to get the green compressor working and get it sold to finance more shop shenanigans. Hopefully soon I'll be able to post some updates of me actually doing work instead of just buying ****

 

[EdT]

Looks like the yard saling is pretty good in your neck of the woods. If you're still looking for a compressor pump you might check out surpluscenter.com. They have lots of kinds at different price points and quality levels. From reading your posts, it could be a dangerous place for you.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Thanks for the link, I'll check them out. How are their shipping charges? Looks like they have some good prices on pulleys, which I'll be needing soon.

So last night I decided to make some space in the garage, then moved the 30 gallon tank in from the side yard. Decided to tinker around with the 3 cylinder Dayton pump that came with the tank, and I might be able to save it. There is a bit of rust in the middle cylinder but no standing water, so I poured in some MMO and hopefully I can get it to break free. The other low pressure cylinder looks clean inside. I managed to not rip the head gaskets on either cylinder so hopefully I can get it sealed back up with a bit of RTV since parts for this pump are NLA. (Also will need to make my own air filter elements out of some type of foam.) Couldn't check out the high pressure cylinder due to the head bolts being e-torx. We'll see what happens with the MMO soak.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

9 day MMO soak plus a precision application of the RBFH and the Dayton pump is freed! Did a little more research on it, it's a Dayton/Speedaire 3Z176C. 3 cylinder 2 stage with a 175 psi max pressure. CFM is listed as 7.6 @ 175, so likely around 10-12 @ 90. Tempted to seal it up, change the oil, and give 'er a go. Need belts and a motor sheave, but should have everything else I need to test run it. Also need to figure out something for air filters since the foam is falling apart and replacement filters are unobtanium. Probably going to want more CFM eventually, but at this point I'm at 3x the output of my old compressor, and could run two compressors if I really needed to for around 17 CFM. Got feelers out to a couple eBay sellers about a Quincy QT5 and a Dayton 7.5 hp single phase motor, but that may be a bit too hopeful.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Just so you guys don't think that this thread is all about me buying air compressors, I actually did some work this week. I took a couple days off work for my birthday, and moved some stuff around in the ol' car hole to install a ceiling fan and some lights. Still have more lights to install, just need to move stuff around so I can get the ladder under the area I want to put them. I have 2 more 4' single tube fixtures I'll be installed on the joists towards the garage door, and a 6' fixture with 4 3' tubes that I'll be putting over the workbench towards the right side of the picture. Best part, total investment of about $25 worth of wire and staples. The 4' fixtures came from a coworker that was remodeling his kitchen, and the 6' fixture came from freecycle. The fan was in my living room when I bought the house, but the wife thought it was ugly. I kind of agree, but it makes a huge difference when it's a zillion degrees in the garage. Even with just the two fixtures installed, it's a huge step up from the single bulb on the wall that I started with (the twin tube fixture in the background was there when I bought the place, but broken.) Also looking to build some shelves in the next few weeks to get this hell hole organized and hopefully make enough room to pull the truck inside again. Making a couple goodwill and restore runs this week to get rid of some of the accumulated junk that I've collected over the years. I think that once I get this place organized, I will be able to get a lot more work done and have a lot less stress in my life.

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

Haven't updated lately because my phone started acting up last weekend and finally bricked itself a few days later. Got a new one from Verizon and now I'm back online. Installed another light fixture above the workbench last weekend, still have 2 more 4' fixtures to install later on but the extra light I have so far is a huge improvement. Picked up some wall art for the garage for $6 at a yard sale last weekend. Also picked up a Dayton 7.5hp motor for $100 on eBay, but shipping added another $160. Not a fantastic deal, but considering a new motor (not counting the mag starter) is about $1k, it's not a terrible deal either. I think I may need a bigger tank just due to the weight alone. Now I'm just keeping an eye out for a deal on a pump...

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

I may or may not have purchased a few taps and dies recently There's a ton of duplicates but I've been buying in lots on Ebay and garage sales for cheap, so there's only about $70 invested in what you see here. Cheaper than an off the shelf set, with sizes from 4-36 to 3/4-10, and I don't think I'll need to buy another 1/4-20 or 5/16-18 tap for the rest of my life

 

[PSYKO_Inc]

So today I had planned to hang some cabinets and build some shelves for the garage. Instead I ended up fighting a u-haul trailer full of lumber all damn day. The door on the trailer got stuck shut with my lumber inside, and spent several hours with the roadside assistance guy getting it open. By the time I got it unloaded, the rental place had closed, and I had to spend an hour on the phone with customer service to get it authorized to be dropped off at another location. Did I mention that it was about 100 degrees today as well? I need a beer so damn bad...