Saylor Beall 705 Compressor - last one I'll ever need!

[MDchanic]

Hi Matt,

I know it's been almost eight years since you started this thread, and nearly four since you last posted, but I just wanted to say "Thank You" for the information.

I just hauled home a 5hp 1978 Saylor-Beall 705 on a horizontal 80 gallon tank, that my Ol' Man happened to see in his local printed (on paper!) classified sheet, for $200.

I was going to just put it together (the PO, who bought it new and replaced the pump once and the motor once, had the pump and motor unbolted from the tank when he closed his shop and moved it to his garage, almost ten years ago) and run it, but you've put the "Fear of God" in me, and I think I'll tear it down "just to be sure," which will have to wait 'till the Spring.

Interestingly, I had recently picked up a 1928 US Air Compressor Co 2-stage Model HA,

and was looking for information on it (there is none), and I was glancing over the image search results, when I came across a picture of your Quincy, which looks just like it, and which brought me to that page of the GasketsToGo blog, which led me to scan and create images of my USACo gaskets and send them out to be made by John at GasketsToGo, who has finished them and sent them (via rowboat, I think).

​

I am now going to follow your suggestion and see what John is charging for your set of gaskets for the Saylor-Beall, so I can have them ready when I finally take it apart.

So, thank you twice, I guess.

If you've got any more words of advice about this compressor (or the Quincy), or, especially about making that darned valve tool, please, let me know.

Thanks,

- Eric

 

[driftpin]

I read the thread today, looks like you came-up with some good solutions to get your unit refurbished and operational.

I bought a used Saylor-Beall 705 1-phase 240 volt Baldor motor compressor from a friend who runs a compressor business here in so. Florida. He services a three-county area of ~7 million people, and he sells a lot of new and used compressors. I've had it for about a year, I had him deliver it to my shop on a pallet, and sited where it was to-go. I had an electrician come in for the wiring. I would have done it myself, but I did this to satisfy my wife. She is an E.E. of 41 years, but she deals with power-company generation equipment and plants, and distribution systems, now retired.

It's servicing my small 2-car garage, running a media blasting cabinet, airing-up various things, a bit of spraying, and parts cleaning. I appreciate having a good air source, and a good dealer to-whom I can turn. His commercial accounts, it's a $200 service call, minimum. He gets a lot of used/mis-used equipment, he fixes/sells the better ones, and scraps the rest. Seeing how people do stupid things to their compressors, even in industrial settings, it's easy to see how he has a good business.

 

[mattblast]

I know it's been almost eight years since you started this thread, and nearly four since you last posted, but I just wanted to say "Thank You" for the information.

The SB still works great. Probably overkill for me, but I really like that it is quiet and can keep up with my sandblaster when I need it.

Still have the old quincy pump, but it just sits in the corner of the garage with the flywheel to the side. I've made a big effort lately to clear out space and make my garage more usable for projects, so the old quincy has to go. There's a big pile of stuff (mostly tools) that I just never use and sometime in the spring I'll host a garage sale to clear it out.

Glad to hear you were able to get custom gaskets made, they do take a while to arrive. I really like the look of these old compressors. Never intended to use mine, but it was the starting point for me to rebuild one and learn about the internals. Since then I've rebuilt a couple quincy 325s, the SB 705, a huge old dual pump IR 30, and a leroi dressor 600, probably a few others as well.

 

[MDchanic]

Well, I've been looking for a "real" compressor since I got the pole barn built, and the old US Air pump kind of fell into my lap, then this S-B did.

I'd actually planned on using the the USACo compressor as my full-time compressor (based on displacement and RPM it should put out about 10CFM at 150-175psi) when the S-B showed up, so now I'm in a similar situation - too many air compressors (in various states of disassembly) and not enough space, especially considering the two partially disassembled Sun machines, the tire machine I've got to get around to fixing, the miscellaneous junk, the lumber, the 150 feet of unassembled warehouse shelving, and, oh yeah, the cars !

Looks like I'll end up being a pro at compressor rebuilding by the time I'm done with this, too.

Oh, and John from GasketsToGo has already gotten back to me with the linework for the two gaskets you ordered from him. Since I'm planning to take this machine all apart, and will need a full set of gaskets, I'm going to see what other parts I need, if any, before deciding whether to have him make them, or just order them from a standard supplier.

Also, I'm deciding how to go about making one of those darned tools — no way I'm buying one for $135.

Thanks for responding, and thanks again for putting up all of this great information!

- Eric

 

[TonyJ]

I made my tool out of hardened bolts and a 1/2” drive socket all welded together. Bolt in one hole and a bolt in the other and a old socket small enough to fit snug between them and weld the bolts to the socket. Then the use of either 20v dewalt impact or air impact. I have a 707 10hp single phase and 705 5 hp and 705 clone View attachment 1

 

[MDchanic]

I made my tool out of hardened bolts and a 1/2” drive socket...

That's actually quite ingenious. I like it. I may try that myself, before I get involved in a whole lot of fancy work.

By the way, for anyone interested, I measured the necessary dimensions and drew them out.
The 7/16" downward projection is necessary if you use bar stock, to clear the head bolts and reach down into the recessed plugs, but could be eliminated by setting the pins in a piece of round stock, like the factory did (or welding them to a socket).

- Eric

 

[TonyJ]

That's actually quite ingenious. I like it. I may try that myself, before I get involved in a whole lot of fancy work.



By the way, for anyone interested, I measured the necessary dimensions and drew them out.

The 7/16" downward projection is necessary if you use bar stock, to clear the head bolts and reach down into the recessed plugs, but could be eliminated by setting the pins in a piece of round stock, like the factory did (or welding them to a socket).

- Eric

I’ll post a picture of mine when I get home. It’s nothing fancy or pretty but works great and also cheap to make if broken.

 

[TonyJ]

 

[TonyJ]

 

[driftpin]

I made my tool out of hardened bolts and a 1/2” drive socket all welded together. Bolt in one hole and a bolt in the other and a old socket small enough to fit snug between them and weld the bolts to the socket. Then the use of either 20v dewalt impact or air impact. I have a 707 10hp single phase and 705 5 hp and 705 clone View attachment 1

That appears to-be the path of least resistance. Simple, easy, study, and I happen to have a bag of sockets I could use for something like that.

 

[MDchanic]

Yup, I've got a whole bunch of sockets like that that I'll never use, too.

Not elegant, but effective. What is it that the pilots say? "Any landing that you walk away from is a good one"?

- Eric

 

[TonyJ]

I think the use of something like what I posted works somewhat better than the ones so people makes that are made like a flat bar with pins mainly because of the use of an impact for removing them. Also the same tool can be used with a torque wrench to set the torque when reinstalling them.

 

[fermentedwaste]

Wow. I just read through this thread. This was my first post on this site. It didn't seem so long ago.

Compressor is complete and has been running for 3 years now with no issues. I wrapped up the project soon after my last post and got busy with other projects. Had to look through the some paperwork to remember the details of the repair.

I had several gaskets and copper crush washers custom made. They were made in Thailand by gasketstogo.com for $32 which included international shipping and several spares for the next time I need to rebuild. Here are the spares which I kept in my Saylor-Beall

The inspection cover gasket was $4.95 each (vs $13 from local dealer), the valve cover gaskets were $0.95 each (vs $4) and the copper washers were $0.25 for 16 small ones and $0.50 for 8 large ones (vs $6.50 for set of 26 for small ones and $4 each for large ones).

The quote I got from a local dealer was another $18 for shipping and they were in the same state. The ones from gasketstogo.com were $32 total! They were very easy to work with and made my gaskets exactly to spec.

I was able to sell the old motor and starter on eBay to cover some of the expenses. Motor sold for $192 and starter for $48.

That comes to about $935 total spent for the compressor. I'm very happy with this as the new units I was looking at were twice that amount and this compressor has been flawless. I keep the tank pressurized and it holds pressure for months at a time without starting up again (garage is cold in the winter and I end up not using it for a few months at a time)

It fills up from empty in about 6 minutes to 175psi and while it does I can be standing 5 feet away having a conversation at normal volume. It's about the same volume as the garage door opener. It supplies enough air to keep my blast cabinet blasting without long pauses to wait for more air, though I'm in the process from converting from siphon blast to pressure blast to reduce air consumption and increase effectiveness.

I have three compressors in my garage right now - my Saylor-Beall plus a Quincy 325 which I just completed repairing and another 325 which is in progress to be done soon. I didn't need any new compressors but it was fun to rebuild mine so I've been on the lookout for bargain units to rebuild and sell. Amazing the Quincy 325 ended up costing me a lot less than the S-B even after cost of repair parts, and it is a higher end unit with pressure lubrication (vs splash) and an oil filter and a continuous run setting so that motor runs constantly and unloader opens and closes as more air is needed (to reduce motor startup current and wear and tear). I need to get rid of the Quincy soon since it is taking up a lot of floor space.

Though the Quincy is a higher end unit, I'm sticking to my Saylor-Beall. This is the compressor I intend to keep forever.

Matt

Hey Matt I have a 705 I’m working on, if you still have the specs you had drawn up to have these gaskets made could you share them? The cheapest washer and head gasket kit I found was around $88. Thanks.

 

[MDchanic]

Hey Matt I have a 705 I’m working on, if you still have the specs you had drawn up to have these gaskets made could you share them? The cheapest washer and head gasket kit I found was around $88.

I ended up buying mine from Pacific Air in Portland, OR. They seemed to be the cheapest, the guy on the phone knew what he was talking about (and when he wasn't certain, he went over, pulled a box off the shelf, and looked inside, just to be sure), and shipping was reasonable.

I don't have the receipt right here, but it looks like I paid $55 for a full gasket set (GK-705-SA), including copper seal rings and crank shims, $4 each for 2 LP intake springs (SPG-4086-SA), $5.50 each for 3 remaining springs SPG-4079-SA), and $20 for a check valve (VCVP-3/4x3/4), for a total of $94, plus $13 shipping. It got across the country in about 2 days, too.

For what it's worth, the two Low Pressure Intake springs are much lighter than the others, but when I compared them to the originals, they were indistinguishable. The other three springs, though, especially the two from the exhaust valves, were less than half the height of the new springs, and had presumably de-sprung due to prolonged heat stress.
So, I'd buy three 4079 springs, but probably not bother with the 4086s.
Everything else in my pump cleaned up fine.

The shaft seal on the flywheel side is an SKF 15517, which you can get on eBay, etc. Depending on age, yours may say "CR" instead of "SKF." "CR" means "Chicago Rawhide," which was bought out by SKF.

Good luck!

- Eric