Be fixing stuff like an adult again. I did all that to my Camaro on jackstands and it sucked.
What did you do to your shop today?
- Thread starter RecklessRegal
- Start date
Be fixing stuff like an adult again. I did all that to my Camaro on jackstands and it sucked.
EH, Mike, was just thinking of you...how much of that storm from the west did you have come a-visiting? Here at the lake we got side-swiped by a soggy sloppy wet mess of rain/sleet/freezing rain/snow. Knocked over trees and toppled power poles. No major dump, just an inch or so of what I call "heart attack snow" stuff so heavy from the water content that you have a heart attack trying to shovel it.
Nick
Nick
Snapped up a Harbor Fright box off Fakebook for $350 this morning to replace my failing steelcase drawers.
Yesterday I totally trashed the shop with my Cutlass. Oldsmopile everywhere
Out of pump through after cooler then to CamAir into tank. Up over and down to Speedair regulator. Into 4 lbs of desiccant beads right and down into a few drip legs. Into Donaldson final filter. New Milton gauge to left is leaking. I hope I can return it. I get some water out of CamAir and everything else has always been dry so far.
So I kind of alluded to this on the other forum. Tuesday, as I mentioned over there, i had spent a few hours with the air drill and some surfacing discs cleaning up the welds and tacks that I had laid down a while back. Compressor had behaved itself all day long until I shut down and went to drain the tank.
Not sure of the why, but the what was the ball valve for the drain committing suicide by snapping in two at the body assembly joint. The stump on the left stayed screwed on to the pipe from the belly Ell but the rest of it blew off into my hand and from there headed for points south.
A comparison shot of what the ball valve ought to look like and what it decided to become.
A quick run over to my S/S pipe and fitting supplier netted me these. Both are 1/4 pipe thread ball valves; the only significant difference is one is brass and the other is stainless.
And the winner was..................(insert drum roll, or snore, or snigger, or ???..........) the 1/4 Stainless version.
True that the brass valve is, by direct comparison, the closest replacement for its deceased predecessor. Thing here is that, during a conversation with the Sales Rep over at the shop, he noted that the engine of destruction that killed the first valve was probably water. First thing to consider is that air has moisture in it no matter how dry or arid you might think it is. When the air gets pulled in and compressed, heat is a by product. If it is a hot or humid day, or even if it is not, water condensation will occur inside the compressor tank and, water being heavier than air, will separate out, drop to the tank bottom and sit there. Back a bit in this thread is a pic sequence of another compressor set up and what the owner did to extract moisture from the air in his lines. At the end of the work day, if you do not open the drain valve and empty the tank, the water continues to sit there in the tank bottom and accumulate. Even if you do go through the exercise of daily drainage, moisture can still linger; which brings me to my deceased ball valve.
Over time, minute amounts of water had managed to penetrate the threads of the ball valve end cap and sit there. The way it got explained to me was that the water did not even have to freeze, it just had to get cold enough for long enough and I guess 1o years was just about right. Where the threads on the cap end and the shoulder of the cap that sits against the body begins is a weak spot in the design, the cold water took advantage of that weakness and snapped the end cap in two, creating the two halves seen in the first picture.
So i could have gone with brass but that choice would have left me open to the same type of damage occurring all over again. It is just the design and not really something a shop can compensate for. So I went with the Stainless version. Physically larger and sturdier, less prone to incur injury from water infiltration. While was in there, I added a 1/4 x 90 degree S/S ell to the drain pipe from the tank bottom and brought the whole assembly closer to the tank' feet and out of the road of transient feet attempting to ease on by. I have a wooden block padded with foam sitting on the bench while the adhesive dries; it will become a saddle for the new drain extension to sit on and the foam will absorb vibration from the compressor when the motor is running which will protect the pipe tubing from cracking. Stainles is durable but soft in some respects and prolonged, severe, or repeated vibration over long amounts of time can cause metal fatigue and stress cracks. I have no desire to have another valve blow up on me.
This time I got lucky. Had my hand been directly in front of the valve as the compressor launched it, at the least, the consequence could have been a wickedly bruised hand; at worst, a broken hand, or the valve could have penetrated the skin of the palm and impaled it. As it was, i had the valve by the actuator handle or lever and whole thing just ripped itself out of my grasp and went on its way. Once the tank had bled out, I could go digging around under the various cradles and dollies and turned up the rest of the valve under an engine stand. A bag of misc wiring harnesses had caught and hung onto it.
The only modification that I made to the Stainless unit was to remove the sliding lock plate from the lever handle. It is there as a safety precaution to be slid into place to lock the lever either in the open, or closed, position, according to demand or need. Didn't need it, so introduced it to Cousin Dremel, who disposed of it quite nicely.
Did all the tear out and replacement this PM, including wire cleaning all the threads of the bits to be re-used and applying fresh pipe thread sealer. Nope. No pipe tape. The Mfgr used a sealer like the stuff that I get under the Permatex label. Not going to get into the argument of tape vs goo. Good and bad to both; depends on the circumstance or the specs for the install. Some Mfgrs insist on tape, others want goo, some don't care.
The test run, fill, sit, and drain, went off okay. No hissing of leaky connections, and no sudden unforeseen launches of shrapnel headed for parts unknown. Kicked the breaker out at the board, and called the day toast.
These three shots have been added just to provide some details as to how the new ball valve was plumbed in and redirected; mostly what it looks like in its new location.
For Tony1968 and Texas82GP, I do appreciate your concern and thank you for expressing it. The pressure vessel for the compressor did not suffer any damage or issues. The failure was confined completely and exclusively to the drain valve. Even at this point, I can't honestly say if it was a "What the F***?" moment, or an "OH Sh**" moment, or a combination of both. Probably the latter. The thread bosses on both the replacement are substantially heavier and meatier, which should go a long way towards being safer. Again, THANKS For Your Concern.
Nick
Not sure of the why, but the what was the ball valve for the drain committing suicide by snapping in two at the body assembly joint. The stump on the left stayed screwed on to the pipe from the belly Ell but the rest of it blew off into my hand and from there headed for points south.
A comparison shot of what the ball valve ought to look like and what it decided to become.
A quick run over to my S/S pipe and fitting supplier netted me these. Both are 1/4 pipe thread ball valves; the only significant difference is one is brass and the other is stainless.
And the winner was..................(insert drum roll, or snore, or snigger, or ???..........) the 1/4 Stainless version.
True that the brass valve is, by direct comparison, the closest replacement for its deceased predecessor. Thing here is that, during a conversation with the Sales Rep over at the shop, he noted that the engine of destruction that killed the first valve was probably water. First thing to consider is that air has moisture in it no matter how dry or arid you might think it is. When the air gets pulled in and compressed, heat is a by product. If it is a hot or humid day, or even if it is not, water condensation will occur inside the compressor tank and, water being heavier than air, will separate out, drop to the tank bottom and sit there. Back a bit in this thread is a pic sequence of another compressor set up and what the owner did to extract moisture from the air in his lines. At the end of the work day, if you do not open the drain valve and empty the tank, the water continues to sit there in the tank bottom and accumulate. Even if you do go through the exercise of daily drainage, moisture can still linger; which brings me to my deceased ball valve.
Over time, minute amounts of water had managed to penetrate the threads of the ball valve end cap and sit there. The way it got explained to me was that the water did not even have to freeze, it just had to get cold enough for long enough and I guess 1o years was just about right. Where the threads on the cap end and the shoulder of the cap that sits against the body begins is a weak spot in the design, the cold water took advantage of that weakness and snapped the end cap in two, creating the two halves seen in the first picture.
So i could have gone with brass but that choice would have left me open to the same type of damage occurring all over again. It is just the design and not really something a shop can compensate for. So I went with the Stainless version. Physically larger and sturdier, less prone to incur injury from water infiltration. While was in there, I added a 1/4 x 90 degree S/S ell to the drain pipe from the tank bottom and brought the whole assembly closer to the tank' feet and out of the road of transient feet attempting to ease on by. I have a wooden block padded with foam sitting on the bench while the adhesive dries; it will become a saddle for the new drain extension to sit on and the foam will absorb vibration from the compressor when the motor is running which will protect the pipe tubing from cracking. Stainles is durable but soft in some respects and prolonged, severe, or repeated vibration over long amounts of time can cause metal fatigue and stress cracks. I have no desire to have another valve blow up on me.
This time I got lucky. Had my hand been directly in front of the valve as the compressor launched it, at the least, the consequence could have been a wickedly bruised hand; at worst, a broken hand, or the valve could have penetrated the skin of the palm and impaled it. As it was, i had the valve by the actuator handle or lever and whole thing just ripped itself out of my grasp and went on its way. Once the tank had bled out, I could go digging around under the various cradles and dollies and turned up the rest of the valve under an engine stand. A bag of misc wiring harnesses had caught and hung onto it.
The only modification that I made to the Stainless unit was to remove the sliding lock plate from the lever handle. It is there as a safety precaution to be slid into place to lock the lever either in the open, or closed, position, according to demand or need. Didn't need it, so introduced it to Cousin Dremel, who disposed of it quite nicely.
Did all the tear out and replacement this PM, including wire cleaning all the threads of the bits to be re-used and applying fresh pipe thread sealer. Nope. No pipe tape. The Mfgr used a sealer like the stuff that I get under the Permatex label. Not going to get into the argument of tape vs goo. Good and bad to both; depends on the circumstance or the specs for the install. Some Mfgrs insist on tape, others want goo, some don't care.
The test run, fill, sit, and drain, went off okay. No hissing of leaky connections, and no sudden unforeseen launches of shrapnel headed for parts unknown. Kicked the breaker out at the board, and called the day toast.
These three shots have been added just to provide some details as to how the new ball valve was plumbed in and redirected; mostly what it looks like in its new location.
For Tony1968 and Texas82GP, I do appreciate your concern and thank you for expressing it. The pressure vessel for the compressor did not suffer any damage or issues. The failure was confined completely and exclusively to the drain valve. Even at this point, I can't honestly say if it was a "What the F***?" moment, or an "OH Sh**" moment, or a combination of both. Probably the latter. The thread bosses on both the replacement are substantially heavier and meatier, which should go a long way towards being safer. Again, THANKS For Your Concern.
Nick
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Watched a few videos of air compressor tanks exploding. You are lucky and I hope your tank is ok.
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