I built my shop in '94. Went air compressor shopping same time. Had to have
that "shop size" air compressor. Had no clue what to look for in an air
compressor. Couldn't believe it when I found a 5-horse Devilbis Pro-Air II
unit at costco for $329. Bought it thinking "oiless" was some awesome new
technology that would revolutionize air tools. Hey, it has Teflon in it. Must
be good, right? Wrong!!!!!!! Just like a cheap no-stick fryin' pan.
A friend bought the same unit at the same time. Knew something wasn't right
when his threw a rod out the side about 18 months later. But, theres a good
side! the rebuild kit is only $40. He buys the rebuild kit. Puts it in. The
funny thing is that he doesn't hardly use the compressor. 6 months later the
same thing happens. He comes over with a bag full of twisted compressor
parts. Another $40 for a rebuild kit. Makes absolutely sure he does
everything right this time. Every 4-6 months His compressor breaks down. Just
like clockwork. My buddy keeps the rebuild kits on hand all the time. The
guys at the Devilbis repair shop love these compressors!
Well, I always teased him about it. Told him mine will probably run forever.
The last time his compressor broke down, about a month ago, I really started
to wonder what was going on. I couldn't figure out why my compressor has done
so good. The really ironic thing is that my compressor runs non-stop on
weeknights and even harder on the weekends. If I'm not sandblasting, I'm
painting or using a DA or my newest toy, a CP dual piston pnuematic board
sander (insert Tim Allen manly grunt/laugh here)! Well, 2 weeks ago the
god-awful noise the compressor makes when pumping started changing pitch. I
new my compressor's time had come, but I wanted to see just how far this
thing would go (so did my friend with this compressor). I really wanted to
see metal chunks flying and sparks and stuff. I really hate this bastard
compressor. I wanted to see it suffer. Well, it wouldn't give me drama.
Yesterday it got to the point where it took twenty minutes just to pump up to
90 pounds. When I bought the compressor the pump could maintain 90 pounds
with an open line.
I broke down and shut the breaker off. Pulled the cover off the compressor
marveling at just how cheap they could build something. Really getting pissed
off that I payed $329 for a big orange tank, 20 beer cans worth of aluminum,
100 yards of copper wire, 4 ball bearings, some miscellaneous plastic and
some pipe fittings, not to mention the 1/10 of a gram of Teflon. Looking at
the repair manual, I noticed that the crankshaft counterweights didn't appear
to be in the correct position, upon closer examination, they were loose,
turning freely. I went to loosen the nut on the end of the crankshaft. It
came off without a wrench. It's supposed to be torqued to 90 FT/LBS! It was
then I realized that if I had just left that thing run for another 1/2 hour
or so, I might have had metal chunks and sparks. To bad! As it turned out, I
needed a whole new crankshaft and counterweights and pistons and rods and
liners. $150, I'm closing in on my buddy! Never buy oiless!!!!!! Unless
you're deaf and you get a huge discount on devilbis parts!!!
Dustin
50 & 53 GMC 1/2 tons
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