What's better than canned air?

From: Tothwolf <tothwolf_at_concentric.net>
Date: Fri Jan 24 07:05:01 2003

On Fri, 24 Jan 2003, Jeffrey Sharp wrote:
> On Tuesday, January 21, 2003, chris wrote:
>
> > At first I filled my tank at my fire house off our breathing air
> > compressor, but that got to be a pain, so I bought a small air
> > compressor (also at Sears, also about $40)
>
> You mean one of those small, tankless compressors? I went to Sears last
> night, and the cheapest tank-equipped compressor they had was $180.
> Considering the potential cheapness of used scuba gear, that's way too
> much to pay for air. Anyway, I'd always thought that those little
> compressors weren't all that great. Am I wrong?

I lucked out on my small Craftsman tankless compressor. It was a freebie,
but it had been abused. It had used in dust-filled environment without the
intake filter. After it quit working, the previous owner then let it sit
out in the weather for a month or so. A few days of totally stripping it
down polishing up the head, etc, replacing the reed valves and seals, and
then a case washing made the thing look and work like brand new.
Interestingly enough, it is now over 20 years old, as I seem to remember
it was made in 1983. The original owner still had the manual, which has
the date of manufacture and a very handy breakdown diagram with a parts
listing. (Needless to say, they were quite surprised that I rebuilt it to
like-new specs. I guess thats just another example of how people throw
away stuff that is still usable...)

As far as usability goes, it's only 3/4HP, and can create up to 100psi. It
doesn't work very well if you open up the blowgun valve for more than
short bursts, but for removing dust, thats generally what you do anyway. I
tend to use it mostly for removing the really stubborn dust from things
like power supplies (while wearing a dust mask), and since it is tankless,
it is easy to transport. I prefer to vacuum out dust when I can, but with
the density of parts in switching power supplies, that is often very
difficult. Paint brushes also help in removing the really stubborn dust,
which seems to really stick to any sort of HV stuff.

-Toth
Received on Fri Jan 24 2003 - 07:05:01 GMT