Air compressor

[Huge]

Any suggestion why my 20 y/o cheap & nasty Clarke air compressor has suddenly decided that it's very. very tired? The motor only turns over rather painfully 2 or 3 times and then stalls.

[newshound]

Electric motor? Belt drive to compressor? If so, remove the belt and see how the compressor feels by hand, and whether the motor now apparently runs properly. Has it been unused for a long time? Have you checked the oil?

Could be motor capacitor or brushes (if it has them). Could be failed bearings in either bit, or rusty piston rings in compressor.

[Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp]

Not quite a Machine Mart product, but this may have similarities?

AB

[Brian Reay]

On 28/08/17 15:38, Huge wrote:g

As others have suggests, check the motor runs without the load of the compressor.

I'd look for the compressor having corroded if it does, especially if it hasn't been used much an stored in a damp garage etc. A bit of a 'clean' and all should be OK.

At worst, salvage the tank and control gear and marry them all to an old fridge/freezer compressor (change the oil ideally). The work surprisingly well with a decent sized tank and are much quieter than a 'normal' compressor. For casual use, they seem great.

(I invested in a Clarke one before I saw a 'converted' one in action, I've been kicking myself ever since- it only gets used a few times per year.)

[Huge]

The former.

No, it gets used every few days.

Yes, first thing I did.

I'll have a rummage in it, but given that a replacement is £75, I'm not going to spent a lot of time on it.

[Peter Parry]

Assuming things are free to rotate by hand with power off it's usually the motor start capacitor. Not terribly expensive to replace, any one of the same characteristics (as printed on it) will suffice.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Doesn't spound right to me. The starter cap is tehre to start it, and once running really plays no part.

And I wuldnt have thought that this would be a synchronous maotor anyway. I'd have guessed a universal, in which case try brushes and if they are not the problem,. buy a new compressor as rewinding motors aint worth it.

[Capitol]

I bought a very nice US Bostich 6gallon, 110V on ebayuk for just over

100. It's the one all the US carpenters use daily. Gets 5* in most reviews.