Learn me old air compressors

I have an uncle who is giving me an old air compressor. He's had it for 35 years and no longer wants it, but knows I want and have a use for a good compressor. It's a 30 gallon tank, 2 stage, and has a 3hp 110/220v motor, currently wired for 220.

He says it works, he did some work on the motor at some point, but some of the lines leak at fittings. What else should I look out for/check/fix before I crank the thing on and get to air-tooling away into a happy future?

(Btw it comes with some air tools, including some painting stuff. I love my uncle)

Make sure the wires are in good shape and give it a try.

Make and model? Pics help.

In reply to TRoglodyte:

Unfortunately I don't have those details. He lives a ways away, we won't go there to pick it up for a week or two. He said it came from a paint shop (he got it used), otherwise no additional details. I'll post pics when I get it, just looking for basic info at first I guess.

Out of a paint shop bodes well. Compressors are the heartbeat in a paint shop.

If there's easy access to plugs at the end of the tank, I'd pull them out and ensure that it's not completely rusted through.. Other than that, check oil and wiring and give it a pull with the bleeders open. Once you're satisfied that it's working reasonably correctly, close the bleeders and see what happens. Deal with leaks as you need to (clean/tape/seal any leaking fittings).

Enjoy, sounds like a beast :)

30 gallon tank is pretty small for a body shop.

I would also change the oil in the compressor.

Thanks for the tips, I'll probably revive this thread when I get it here (confirmed plans are to go weekend after next).

30 gallon seemed small to me too for a body shop, maybe that's why they replaced it. I don't know. It is a 2 stage, though, so that helps I guess. Either way I'm not running a body shop so it will likely be overkill (read- perfect) for me.

Just because it came from a body shop doesn't mean it was their only compressor :) Or, alternatively, 30 years ago 30 gallon might have been fine for the technology at the time..

Ok just picked it up. I won't be home with it until tomorrow because we are using this as a weekend trip to visit relatives we haven't seen in a while. I don't know how to post photos from my phone, but they are coming. it says Curtis all over the compressor, which looks about as steam-punky as I could ever imagine. It has a giant pully that is also a fan and a flywheel, and it is connected to a big electric motor that sits next to it. It sits on 4 small caster wheels, so besides being heavy as balls, it moves around easily enough.

My uncle said some fitting leaks, but I didn't hear anything hissing at all, and it was sitting at 120psi and holding as we were looking at it. He bled out some air, which felt like getting hit by a leaf blower for a while, down to 80 psi and turned it on. Wow it's quiet. Like, half the volume or quieter than the porter cable pancake compressor I have. It pumped right back to 120 psi in no time. He threw in literally everything he had to accompany it, an angle grinder, sander, spray gun, all old school looking, some extra hoses, regulators, etc... And enough sandpaper to keep me going for the next 15 years (he's retired from 3M, he could easily get sandpaper). Much of it is old, but looks in great shape, and I doubt sandpaper cares how old it is. It also have something to remove moisture/stuff from the air, I guess in case of painting? I don't know. I have a lot to read up on before I can really use this.

He said he ground they valves when he got it, occasionally changed the oil, and now and then checks the various tanks/filters/regulators for water (they have drain plugs in them).

It's a bit dirty, but the thing looks awesome. I'm pretty sure the compressor is steel, but it looks kinda brass colored. That plus a big copper hose and the giant pully kinda complete the awesome look. I might clean and paint it anyway to prevent corrosion, though. I don't know, open to suggestions.

My dad has a bunch of new-in-box air tools from Montgomery Wards, so they're probably nearly as old as the compressor. I think he said there's a half inch impact wrench, another grinder, a grease gun, whole bunch of stuff. So I went from no air tools at all to holy e36m3 in a single weekend!

So, learn me how air tools work and vintage Curtis compressors?

For the price of some O Rings and brass fittings, you won't find a late model that delivers the same reliability. Even if you have to swap out the motor etc., the thing will still out live us.

Dan

Good to know, so Curtis is a decent brand? I looked them up and they still make compressors, which is cool. My uncle had the valves ground when he got it, but that was 35 years ago. He didn't use it a ton, but again, infrequent use is still a lot of use over 35 years. The guy who had it ran a small body shop, but he closed down when my uncle hired him for 3M. Supposedly the guy was a trained engineer, but had a small body shop for some reason. My uncle had/has an Alfa spyder and got it repainted by the guy who did a very good job. He did an equally good job when he had to paint the door again after a little girl carved her name into the fresh paint with a rock

When he got hired at very good pay, he quit the body shop, and sold my uncle all his stuff. He worked at 3M until retirement. Cool story.

The motor should be easy to replace if/when I need to, and it came with a spare motor

I tried googling the motor company, peerless electric, which can sill makes motors, though they seem to have updated the logo. The logo on my motor looks like the peerless car company logo from the early 1900's, I assume that company eventually became this one? I don't know. The current peerless website has motors with similar looking logos, so this motor could be fairy new compared to the compressor, might run a long time (I hope)

Teflon Tape.

I used to sell Curtis in St. Louis braided hoses for some of their compressors. They seemed like they had been around forever but I do know their product was decent. Never paid us on time.

Bam!

sorry for bad phone picture. The compressor is in the new garage. Pretty sweet, eh? It's much taller than i thought it would be, the tank is 30 gallons. Big dial says pressure in the tank, a small dial on a regulator shows the pressure in the line, and there is another thing after that, he said it was a filter to remove moisture and crap for use when painting.

Does oliviagrey have a canoe and work for Eaton? Two posts and both are hawking Eaton compressors.

In reply to Rufledt:

That's awesome! If it were me, I'd be tempted to repaint the motor and polish up all the brass bits and clear coat them. Maybe a fire engine red for the tank. Yeah, it's a tool, but it is also a piece of industrial art!

In reply to Basil Exposition:

Cleaning up the compressor is definitely in the plans for my garage build thread. I was thinking of doing pretty much exactly what you said. Don't know how much of it is brass, hard to see since it's so dirty.

When I pick it up this week, I'll post up some pictures to show you what I'm talking about but:

A few years ago, we were building a billboard and found on site a 30 gallon compressor with a 3/4hp motor on it just hanging out in the weeds, obviously hadn't been used in a long time. Opened up the drain valve and let it sit open for a week when we got it home to make sure it was dry, ran new hardlines and got a new belt for it, and it's been running like a top ever since. Total cost of like $25, and I'll be the one to finally add a dryer/filter to the output for when I paint.

Grainger hasn't sold the motor that's on it for at least 10 years as of now, so it was definitely made a long time ago, but it's been super strong and reliable, albeit a bit ugly.

I guess the point of this post is even if it's ugly, if it holds air, old compressors are still as good or better than the newer ones. Gotta say I'm jealous of that big angry motor on yours though.

Oh yeah mine is definitely awesome, I'm super happy with it. Mine has one of those filters/dryers, and it's the only thing on it that looks relatively new! The rest needs a very good cleaning and some paint. Mine still has some air in it from when I got it over a month ago, so it can't be leaking much.

Nice piece of equipment! It'll look cool when cleaned up!

I wouldn't worry about the valves.. My 70s Quincy leaks a bit from the valves (fill it completely up and it'll leak down over the course of 3 hours or so). Unless it's an excessive problem, I wouldn't be concerned.

Aside from the occasional bearings and start caps, an induction motor never really wears out/breaks unless it's abused. I have one from the 40s that still runs great, just a new cap and repacked original bearings.

My motors actually have zerk fittings, no need to tear it apart :)