Hi guys ‘n gals. Last night, I proceeded to dismantle an old Monkey Ward compressor my sweetie had stored — it’s ready for the scrap heap. Took the Leeson motor off. In the process, took the cover off the belt/pulley area and thought mabe I’d keep the wheel too. Take a look at this thing! What are all those holes? Is this how they balanced the wheel?
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Another proud member of the “I Rocked With ToolDoc Club” …. :>)
Replies
Most likely. I took off the upper wheel of my Delta 14" bandsaw to shim it out and on the back of the wheel were the same type of milled depressions distributed around the wheel in an asymmetrical pattern. And I know the wheels are supposed to be balanced.
Your instincts are correct on balancing the wheel!
That is a very standard proceedure. When the local garage balances your car tires, they ADD weight to the lighter side. On the flywheel/pulley they remove weight from the heavier side. This makes up for any imperfections hidden within the casting, poor casting patterns, poor machining, and any other sin associated with cheap manufacturing.
SawdustSteve
"...any other sin associated with cheap manufacturing" Hence the moniker "Money Ward"?? LOL. Well, at least they went to the trouble of balancing it.
Whatdya think, any sense in keeping the wheel? forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
FG.The unit looks pretty old , it was probably good for its time, when it was new,and it looks looks like a cast iron pump, Do you know if it still works? Just saving the pulley may not mean anything unless you need a good paper weight!LOL-- Ben
Did you check out the compressor? those old cast iron units last a long time. Often the tank fails and people throw the whole thing away. Some of the older Sears and MW compressors can be rebuilt if you can find the original compressor mfr.
OK, you three guys (Janation, Rob and Dan) are not helpling, ROFL!!!! I'm trying to get rid of this tank and make some room in our cabinets. OK, OK let me ask some questions. According to hubby, the compressor part is dead (he didn't say how dead). We have 2 other compressors, one is a much bigger, nearly new unit that belongs to his son but lives here. The other is my little pancake compressor.
So, that said, if I acquiesce and keep the compressor part, can I at least throw away the honkin' tank? I'd be afraid to use it anyway, because I have no idea how rusty it might be inside (it's certainly rusty on the outside). I've never seen a vacuum outfit -- do I keep the pressure gauge stuff? The air release valve (which I tossed but can dig out of the trash)? How smart do I have to be to put one of these outfits together?
LMK, guys, I'm all ears!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Ask yourself, "What's the worst thing that could happen if I threw this away?" and proceed accordingly.
To pacify the guys who see lots of potential still in it, offer to give it to the first person who shows up to haul it away.
Well it is hard to diagnose remotely but here goes.
1. Is the compressor free, that is can you rotate it by hand using that big pulley? If so can you feel the compression stroke as you rotate it, hold a finger over the outlet port and does is force your finger away. Then try the suction same way, watch out you don't get a hickey or blood blister !!
While rotating the pulley do you hear any bearing noises, or loose connecting rods etc!!
If the compressor rotates freely and you can't feel the compression or suction, pull the head and check the reed valves. Often the cause of loss of performance and usually easy to replace.
If it passes the above tests, set it up on a test bench (piece of 2x12 works) so you can hook that motor up again and run it without any piping connected. Listen for odd noises that may indicate connecting rod problems or piston wear. Then hook it to a portable air tank and see if you can build pressure, caution use a pressure relief valve !!!
Even if it is frozen all may not be lost. pull the heads and fill the piston(s) hole(s) with a penetrating oil or kerosene and let it set overnight and try it again. I have got old tractor engines that have sat out 40 years to free up this way. You probably are running into the limit of practicality beyond this. although you can hone the bore if it is not to badly rustedand install new piston rings, and even new bearings
Even if it is not capable of producing full pressure it may be useful as a vacuum pump as previously mentioned.
Forestgirl
This is more than just an issue of, "can I find a use for this thing?" Being an old compressor and tank there is a definite safety issue. Please do not use the tank without having it hydrotested first. To do this they fill it with a liquid then pressurize it. With a liquid under pressure if the tank fails it will only split open and spray the fluid out. If pressurized with air and it fails, you have a bomb on your hands, it will explode when it fails. Think of popping a balloon filled with air vs a water balloon breaking. I would treat all the old piping on this unit with the same care. If you are changing it over to a vacuum pump then these dangers are much less as failure is an implosion. Unless you have a real need for a compressor or vacuum pump be safe and haul it off to the junkyard. Scrap metal is at it's highest price in several years right now. Some salvage yards require you to poke a large hole (hole saw) in the tank or cut it open before they will take it, which is always a good idea anyway.
Be safe
RichThe Professional Termite
Hi Rich, you must have missed my post #10: "I'd be afraid to use it anyway, because I have no idea how rusty it might be inside (it's certainly rusty on the outside)." You and I are in the same camp when it comes to compressor tanks -- I'm very cautious with them. There's a large contingent of folk who seem not to believe that they'll blow up, but not me, LOL!!!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Mount it on the wall with your ox yoke!! (Sorry, couldn't resist).
Regards,
Mack"WISH IN ONE HAND, PLACE SMELLY, FOUL AND USELESS MATERIAL IN THE OTHER; SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"
Don't scrap it. The intake end of the compressor will pull a pretty good vacuum for veneering etc. When I was a chemist, we used $1000 vacuum pumps for the fine chemicals, and old compressors for the rough stuff and the filtrations. Even a really beat up compressor will pull about 28 or 29 inches of mercury.
Forest Girl,
If the compressor can be gotten back into running order, it might make and excellent component in a vacuum clamping system.
Dan Kornfeld, Owner/President - Odyssey Wood Design, Inc.
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