The Frankenpressor Build

Found this 2 hp 220 volt compressor on craigslist for next to nothing because the tank is rusted out and it leaks. The air hose is crap, but he threw in a 50' heavy duty extension cord.


I also found this on craigslist for next to nothing because the compressor head went out.


So, I picked them both up with the thought of making one good compressor out of two bad ones.

But then I started looking at my shop compressor . . . .

It has a 3 hp 220 volt motor and a bigger compressor than the one with the rusty tank. But, a smaller tank that takes up more space than the red one. Hmm, maybe a three way swap is in order?

 

Before I get too far ahead of myself lets see what I've got. That electrical cord looks positively dangerous. Clearly it will have to be replaced.


Lets look inside. A bit of dirt on the pistons but it wiped right off.


Lets look at the cylinder walls. A whole bunch of meh here, but no scoring so I'm going to call it good enough.

 

My big 220.exploded, literally. I picked up another, pulled the compressor of the dead one and plumbed the 2 tanks together. I have roughly 12 billion gallons of storage now, my math may be of a bit but it's a lot

 

First off I must give respect to everyone that does these build posts. I've never done one before and I like reading what others are doing. So, with my typical "how hard can it be" attitude I decided to do a build thread myself. Yeah, for me it's hard to do. I'd get into the heat of the moment solving problems and totally forget to take a picture. So with respect to those who do an awesome job at build threads, here is the completion of mine.

I call this shot "What is missing from this picture?"


What is missing? A bung for the air from the compressor to go into. There is only one pipe going into the tank. How did I solve that problem? After considering and discarding the thought of welding my own into the tank, I bought a threaded "T" fitting and welded to that instead.

Now I Can't Screw On the Pressure Regulator


So with the T in hand and the pressure regulator mounted to it I discover the handle is in the way. My solution is to cut the thing off. At this point I've already made that decision, you can see the cut line marked on the handle just between the gauges.

Here is the fix for the cut off handle


I plug welded a long bolt to the handle and slip it into the remaining piece on the tank. It works pretty well and is removable if needed.

Test Fitting


I wanted to mount everything where the previous compressor on the red tank was, but there just wasn't room. Plus I would have had to source a new belt and build a guard for the pulleys. That was too much work and expense. Instead I cut the mounting plate from the other tank and used that instead.

New mounting plate burned in


A few passes with my little Miller 110 volt mig welder and that mounting plate isn't going anywhere.

Unique Drain Solution


I don't know about your garage, but in mine the spiders love the bottom of my air compressor. I hate draining the water because I can't see what kind of nastiness is under there. This extension puts the drain where I can see it. A bonus is the water drains out of the tank and sits in the galvanized pipe so it should extend the life of the tank too.

Then stuff happens and its finished


It works great and the bigger tank that takes up less space was worth the effort.


Oh yeah and the other compressor turned out pretty good too


It's for sale right now on KSL.com If a tacomaworld member buys it I'll give you a 30 day guarantee. If it breaks I'll fix it or give you your money back.
Sorry it sold