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FIXING MY BROKEN AIR COMPRESSOR: Wouldn't Hold Pressure - Bailey Line Life #16
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Feb 22, 2024
Join me as I wrestle with a broken DeWalt air compressor and share some real life stories. FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: https://bit.ly/2T3USuy PREVIOUS EPISODES: https://bit.ly/2EVDuFg WATCH MORE BAILEY LINE ROAD: Winter Tips - https://bit.ly/2rpnUcm Product Tours - https://bit.ly/2L2H54Q Woodworking - https://bit.ly/2RN83jC Real Rural Life - https://bit.ly/2RI5dvY CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE: https://baileylineroad.com/ My Cabin Building Course: https://baileylineroad.com/cozy-cabin/ How-To & DIY eBooks: https://baileylineroad.com/shop/ SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.instagram.com/baileylineroad/ http://bit.ly/BLRfacebook
View Video Transcript
0:00
In this video, I want to share a little repair job I'm doing with you
0:05
There's always stuff to fix and this job starts with a story
0:10
Back in the fall, I was shingling a roof with an air nailer and I had this compressor sitting on the ground
0:16
You know, it would turn on when tank pressure dropped and it would shut off again when tank pressure reach the cutoff point
0:23
This compressor happens to go up to 200 PSI. It's a great little compressor
0:28
but once when the thing turned on, it just never shut off
0:33
I'm sitting there up on the roof. Not only that, but the air nailer's not blamming away with as much force as normal
0:40
So I climbed down, I thought, oh, what if I got an air leak or something like that? But there was no air leak
0:45
And no matter how long the compressor ran, the pressure in the tank never got higher than 75 PSI
0:54
which is lower than the, you know, 90-something I was running the gun. problem of some kind and there was no air leaking anywhere. So I got another compressor and I
1:02
continued the job, but I wanted to fix this if I could and I thought maybe there's a belt
1:08
slipping inside. You know, because the thing is still running and it's still doing some compression
1:13
but it's just not getting up to pressure. So I decided to take it apart and find out what was
1:17
going on. I'd never gone into a machine like this before. And it was actually fairly difficult
1:23
to get this thing open because there's covers that go on here. And I'll
1:27
A lot of these screws are deep in. You have to reach them a long way
1:32
They go farther than most screwdrivers, and there are torques as well
1:37
So I got myself an extended set of torques bits so I could take this thing apart
1:43
Because I really don't like throwing out things, good tools, when maybe they just need a little bit of work
1:49
So got the cover off, and you can see the drive belt in here
1:55
I was actually kind of disappointed. to see that this drive belt was in such good condition
2:00
Not only that, it's a toothed belt as well. So there's no way that was slipping
2:05
Plugged it in again, ran it with the cover off. I could see that it was working fine
2:11
It's kind of interesting. You can see there's a connecting rod in here
2:15
and the cylinder. So this is the cylinder sleeve itself. There's the connecting rod in there
2:22
There's a piston in here. It goes back and forth and compresses the air
2:26
Turn it on again. It still wouldn't go about it. still wouldn't go above 75. So I just start fooling around
2:31
I'm thinking, well, I might as well take it apart because it's just going to go to the junkyard
2:35
if I can't find out what's wrong with it. My next move was to take the cylinder head off
2:40
and that's when I discovered something that made me feel pretty happy
2:44
Because when you're troubleshooting things like this, what you really want to find is a problem
2:51
And I found the problem. And we're going to fix the problem right now
2:54
This plate sits between the cylinder head and the top of the cylinder
3:02
And it's got valves on it. Two flat valves here. It was supposed to be three
3:08
And then another set of valves down here. So that allows the compressor to suck air in on the downstroke of the piston
3:16
And then to compress that air on the upstroke and funnel it into the pressure tank
3:22
The problem, the reason why my The compressor wasn't working properly was because one of these flaps had corroded and broken off
3:31
So air was leaking through. It wasn't getting compressed properly and into the tank
3:39
And you can see what's happened here. Moisture is always an issue inside of compressors
3:47
And because when you compress air, it can trigger condensation, especially if it's moist outside
3:56
So you can see there's some corrosion has set in there, and then this third flap that should be there was missing
4:04
So that's the problem. Hallelujah. Now it's time to find the part, and I found the part
4:11
I ordered it. All this happened about six months ago. It doesn't necessarily happen too quickly when you're repairing these things
4:17
but I still want to fix it properly. So I'm going to be putting this new plate in
4:22
You can see it's the same as, It was before except we have three flap valves
4:27
First part of the repair is to salvage some of these seals or O rings
4:31
There one on each side of the old plate and it They didn come on the new plate so Not sure how well this is going to stick in here
4:45
I'll have to be careful when I put it in not to lose that
4:49
not to have it fall out. I may want to put a little bit of goop in there just to hold it
4:57
depending on how we do. I think we're ready to go here
5:03
ready to go here. You know, one of the problems with challenges with this kind of repair is you have to
5:09
remember how things go back together. And like I said, it's been six months since I had this thing
5:15
apart. So I'll have to do a little bit of detective work. I'll just use the old plate right now
5:22
But this plate can go this way or this way or this way. So I have to figure out how it goes
5:30
How did you do on multiple choice questions back in school? I like them, but multiple choices isn't as high stakes as real life like this
5:41
So I see some nubbins here. I'm kind of thinking those engage this cylinder sleeve somehow
5:47
And if you look here on the cylinder head, you can see some remnants of rust there
5:55
And if I look here, I can see some rust. There's no rust on this side. So I think it goes this way
6:04
So like this. Because we've got the rust. Then we've got this funny shaped seal here
6:11
which would correspond with this shape here. So I feel pretty confident that's going to go together
6:18
Let's just see. I'll just try that. This here. See where those little ovens go
6:25
Yeah. That's going to work fine. Now I have to get some screws ready too, to remember which ones those were
6:32
You might find this useful. If part of the problem is to remember how things go back together again
6:38
another problem is finding the fasteners or not losing them in the first place
6:43
I like to use a rare earth magnet. You can see it down there
6:48
Quite powerful. Just hold everything together. You're tipping things in your favor when you do stuff like that
6:54
It wouldn't work if you were taking apart a computer. But no, no, this is not the computer realm
7:01
So, you know, I'm looking, we need four screws. And I've got, I think it's these ones here
7:09
Uh-oh. Yeah. Uh-oh. Luckily, I'm not doing this on a lawn somewhere
7:16
Everything, every little thing that falls down into the grass disappears forever
7:20
Yeah, including my wedding ring. Yes, that's right. You still haven't lived up
7:25
You still haven't gotten over that one yet, have you? No, and I hear about it every once now
7:30
I made this one out of a tunie, so that's something at least
7:35
Well, that actually should impress Wifi a lot more than a store-bought ring, right
7:40
I mean, you made that thing. Yeah, you'd think so, but this one isn't 24-carat, so
7:45
Well, you could make something up. Make something up about that ring
7:52
Because I'm more impressed with that ring than I was with the ring you were at the altar with. Yeah, you're a practical 50-something-year-old man, though, not an impractical 20-something-year-old woman
8:03
Do you see it? Yeah, I see it. It's a workshop yoga
8:12
Yeah, workshop Pilates, right? And that's what you're recommending the last one
8:16
It's Pilates. Pilates. You get the lingo, right? What are we looking at here
8:23
It's probably metric. A lot of things are metric these days. Yep, 8mm
8:27
So now the tricky part is going to be getting this plate in without losing the positioning of this thing
8:40
I'm going to put this in here. Good. Now this goes on
8:51
I did notice this is a little bit loose here. I can rotate it
8:55
I can rotate this fitting. So when I get it together, I'm going to snuck that up a little bit
9:03
Brain surgery. That's what this is. Why is it that when the phone rings it irritates me Is it because the phone always ringing at a critical moment in life
9:28
Well, it's designed to be a somewhat irritating sound, you know, most phone rings
9:33
That's a Panasonic phone. We've had that for years. It's a pretty common phone, and I find that if I happen to be in a store or a restaurant or something
9:40
and they've got a Panasonic foam and it rings makes me irritated
9:47
You think it's for you for a second? Yeah, I mean, before you realize what's going on
9:53
Once I get this buttoned up, I'm not going to go through all the hassles of putting the shroud and everything back on
9:59
until I've proven that this baby works. Cylinder heads and wheel rims
10:04
they should be tightened sequentially. So you just warp things. I mean, it's not the cylinder head in Harley Davidson, but we're going to still treat it with respect, right
10:20
I think we may be ready for a test here. Now, does it look right
10:26
Looks right. Looks right. Does it rotate? There we go. I don't know
10:36
I've always liked the look of a connecting rod and a flywheel. Piston and cylinder
10:42
There's something magical about that. Okay, it rotates. So I think we're ready for a trail run
10:49
Of course, you know, the writers of repair manuals are much, they always caution you against plugging anything in
10:57
or starting it up when it's not completely enshrouded and it's, you know, legal department authorized shrouds and everything
11:06
but sometimes you just have to try something out. I want to make sure it's off
11:12
It's off. Okay, the valve here is closed, the tank valve. So, if six months of waiting and scrounging for a part
11:26
is going to pay off now is the time when it will happen
11:30
Oh boy. We should hit 200 PSI before it turns off. So here we go
11:37
I'm just going to hit it briefly first. yeah nothing exploded nothing exploded
11:45
nothing flew off and hit yeah I should mention
11:57
that is as high as it used to get 75 All right. 200
12:16
That looks like success, doesn't it? Looks like it, because it is
12:20
Okay, you're kind of curious. How hot does that get? Pretty hot
12:25
Maybe we should stick the phone on that so the viewers can tell how hot it is
12:31
Not as hot as a cylinder head and a Harley-Davidson and the Bonneville salt flats, but pretty hot
12:37
Okay, I'm going to unplug this. This next point is probably going to be more difficult than the first, and that's kind of remember how it all goes up together again
12:46
This is some kind of a muffler, I think. I'm looking at how everything lines up
12:51
I think, yeah, this has to go there, and this has to go there
12:59
Seems reasonable. Let's see what happens here. Looks like an internal organ or something
13:06
It does. It does look like something you can see in a medical book. There we go
13:16
This is an exceptionally quiet compressor. I think that muffler is wine
13:23
Maybe when it's all buttoned up. Okay. So these are those
13:35
If the screws, they go in here, but they don't actually connect with anything until they get deep in
13:43
That's why I had to get those extended torques bits. And I do have another thing here too
13:56
I hit me The safety relief valve My ears
14:06
Are you okay? I'm fine But Something's going on there. Well, this is just the usual sort of thing
14:23
wrestling. This thing is part of this thing, so I'm going to have to interlock this with this first
14:33
Ah! It's looking promising. More promising. Okay, this is the only screw of its kind, small screw. I'm kind of thinking it has to go in there. I can't remember, but let's just see
14:53
Okay, I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to stir
15:02
I'm going to put some of these screws in here. Loose. At least, hold things together
15:10
I'm almost giving up hope to be able to fix this at all because I just couldn't get to the screws
15:18
But Irwin's got this great set here. long torps bits
15:27
Let me just make sure that got the right one. This must be it
15:36
That's gripping. I just want to get it started. I just know it's going to a little bit
15:48
That's going in too. You know I find that when When I have something that breaks, there's always something breaking when you get this much year in your life
16:02
I am actually glad that it breaks. Look at how far in that head to go
16:09
After I fixed it, I'm glad that it's broken because I just have a lot more sense of satisfaction with the equipment because you fixed it
16:20
You must be very satisfied with the tractor and snowblower. Supreme satisfaction there
16:30
Constant satisfaction. There's a saying that says no good deed goes unpunished
16:37
So I was helping a neighbor who had to get some hay bales
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And we're dealing with waste deep snow and there's stuff over there
16:46
And there could have been stuff in the snow. So I'm blowing snow out
16:50
And to get to the bales, and then there's a big bang in the 8-foot snowblower, a thousand-year-old snowblower
16:59
And I see that the PTO shaft, power takeoff shaft, has come off of the gearbox on the snowblower
17:09
It's actually sheared the key off of it. Didn't we do a video about that
17:16
No, we didn't. We decided not to. Too much tractor stuff. Too much tractor
17:20
But anyway, so it's just loosened and falling off. You know, it wasn't really anyone's fault or anything
17:25
But so I fix it. And then I go to start the snowblower again
17:30
It's all full of snow. And I engage it. And it's not turning
17:35
And it's not turning enough that it's stalling out a 60 horsepower diesel engine at idle
17:41
And I'm thinking, okay, is it frozen? You know, so I go in and start knocking it loose
17:48
Sure enough. My good deed was being rewarded because caught there in the auger times was the whole chunk of a concrete block
17:57
Which is what got me in the first place. But anyway, fixed
18:02
No problem. So there's satisfaction in that. Maybe not so much when you hit concrete blocks
18:08
But there's another couple of things here. This plate, this yellow plate needs to go on the back
18:15
I see there's a couple of bumpers here that need to go on. I guess they go on here somewhere
18:21
I'll button that up, but there you go. Well, thanks very much for watching. I hope you found this interesting
18:27
And if you like the video, give me a thumbs up. Subscribe, hit the notifications bell
18:33
and check out my website and newsletter in the description box
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