Spare air compressor project

[PWC Repair]

So many moons ago my wife bought me a Husky airless,..oops, I meant oilless , compressor. Actually, other than being super loud it worked OK for a long time. It burnt a teflon piston ring and parts are no longer available so it's just been sitting.
Decided I should do something with it cause the tank is in great shape.

 

[PWC Repair]

Bought this little guy on sale at Harbor freight. I think it was $99. I figured it SURELY must be better than the original little crapper.
Unboxed it fresh today and in typical GarageJournal fashion, immediately tore it down.

 

[PWC Repair]

Here is the new pump mounted on the old Husky tank. Arrow is pointing to the new brass fitting which is stabbed in the existing threaded tank hole. It just so happened the length of the line on the new pump set it in a good location atop the Husky tank to just drill 4 new mounting holes......well that was easy.

 

[PWC Repair]

First pic with arrow you can see a street ell I added. Then just attached the whole pressure regulating assembly straight from the new HF unit.

Other pic is showing it's still very easy to adjust the regulator, and access the on/off switch. Again.......that seemed easy enough.

 

[PWC Repair]

And the (almost) finished project. I have to pickup a piece of 1/4" aluminum pilot tubing to run from the front fitting back to the pressure switch. The one off the new HF pump is waaayyy too short.
Also note the hose hanger on front.......YEP, that's the handle off the new HF tank. Again, just had to drill a few holes on the Husky top mount and even used the new bolts that came with the handle!!
Overall, I'm happy about just how easy this whole project was, nothing ever goes like this for me.

 

[The Cobbler]

cool project
have you timed the fill ? oops, I guess you still need some plumbing.
aslo , the tube will probably be easier to find in copper (1/4" OD)

 

[PWC Repair]

I'll time the fillup after I get that tubing. Actually it appears to be common gas pilot tubing and fittings. You can buy it in a 'pilot tubing kit' at any HVAC house for $6-8.

 

[larry4406]

Looks like it is about to tip over due to the compressor head hanging off to the side.

 

[vavet]

I would grab that hose hanger and try to tilt it every time I needed to move it.

Cool project.

 

[PWC Repair]

The weight of the pump is centered over the tank....at the mounting feet. Even if the whole pump was off to one side it still wouldn't be tippy. That little single cylinder guy weighs nothing. The handle behind the pump is the original handle. If you try to pull it to rock it over, the whole tank just slides towards you upright. You still have to place a foot at the wheel bracket to tip it over, kind of like when you use a dolly.

 

[PWC Repair]

Got it running today! I ended up using the little HF aluminum pressure tube on the brass fitting as it's funky....probably metric..AND flared. But the switch side is 1/4" compression. So I just used a compression union on the other side of the HF aluminum tubing, then added the black plastic pressure tube from the original Husky compressor for the extra length to get to the pressure switch.
Fired up and running.......2:40 to get up to 50psi on the 32gallon tank.....5:15 up to 90psi......and 8:30 total time up to 125psi cutoff. I really don't think that's too bad. Seems like the original Husky pump took longer than that.