74: Adventure – Part III

So, while I’m waiting on parts I talk to an engineer friend of mine who wanted to hear the whole story starting with the manifolding of two compressors idea. I tell him the details and he immediately says. Tony, you’ve obviously forgotten your hydraulics engineering principles. (Yes, I have an engineering degree too, but I didn’t work my whole career in engineering – so yes, I have forgotten a thing or two). Long story short, you can manifold two compressors together, but you have to increase all your hose and air fitting sizes so that friction doesn’t rob you of all your extra capacity. So, I upgrade my airhose to 5/8” ID from 3/8” and make the manifold out of ¾” ID hoses. No, I didn’t buy 5/8” airhose that would have cost a fortune. The same engineer said go buy a new, heavy duty 5/8” waterhose. It will handle 100 psi no problem. He was right.

Fortunately, I hadn’t given back my friend’s borrowed compressor. So, I manifolded them together again with all the larger hoses and try to shoot a canister. It shoots foam and the foam looks good, but with about 25% of the foam left to spray the pressure tanks have run out of volume and both compressors kick on and can’t maintain the needed cfm. So, spraying stops and I pitch the remaining 25% out the window.

So, now I’ve sprayed out about 4 canisters (about $90) and don’t have much to show for it. It’s back to the drawing board one more time. On Monday, when the rental compressor repairs were supposed to be finished they call me to say the repairs didn’t fix it and they have to order more parts. It will likely be another week before it’s repaired. So now, it’s time to break down and BUY a compressor. I check all over town, nobody has one locally that’s big enough to do the job. I check Ebay, nothing. I check Craigslist and they have lots of compressors. After checking everywhere within a days drive I find what I need in Dallas, a compressor company that rebuilds and sells compressors. They have a 5hp 210 volt, 80 gallon, two stage Quincy brand rebuilt compressor with a new electric motor, a reconditioned compressor pump and all for $1100. I’d seen several other used compressors in this size range for about the same price, so rather than take a chance on a used one, I bought a rebuilt one.

I drive to Dallas to get it. It weighs almost 700 lbs and is bolted down to a pallet. They load it in my pickup with a forklift. The drive home was uneventful.

Tomorrow – unloading the compressor.