vpitelka on sun 17 feb 08
John Rogers wrote:
"If one has the need for an engine powered air compressor rather than an
electric powered air compressor, the engine from the old air cooled
Volkswagen Beetle is capable of being converted into an air compressor.
Some years ago, kits were available, and I believe they still are -
though I haven't made a point to hunt them down recently - to replace
two of the cylinders n the little flat four-banger with compressor
cylinders, thus producing a combination two cylinder gasoline engine
powered compressor. Add a compressed air storage tank and y are ready
to go. Mounted on a stand, a cart or a small utility trailer, it is a
handy tool with great portability, giving you compressed air in the
shop, on the road, at the beach, in the mountains, whereever."
John -
You can do the same thing with a Chrysler Corp. slant-six. It has a
twelve-port head and 120-degree crank-throws evenly distributed front to
back, so you can isolate the front and rear halves to turn it into a
3-cylinder compressor and a 3-cylinder engine. As in the case of the VW
engine, you have to sleeve the compressor cylinders so that they are smaller
than the engine cylinders, or else the engine won't have enough power to do
the job.
Back in the 1940s and 1950s the Schramm Company made compressors like this
from Ford flathead V-8s and some kind of big straight 4-cylinder and
6-cylinder engines, maybe Budas, with half the cylinders for power and the
other half sleeved down and compressing air. They were popular because they
were so compact (relatively speaking).
By the way, the folks who listed that big compressor on eBay clearly don't
know what they are talking about, because there is a huge electric motor
clearly visible direct-coupled to the compressor, and there's no diesel
engine at all. The big six-cylinder unit is all compressor.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
John Rodgers on sun 17 feb 08
Phil's post about the compressors on E-bay brought this to mind -
something I haven't thought about in a very long time.
If one has the need for an engine powered air compressor rather than an
electric powered air compressor, the engine from the old air cooled
Volkswagen Beetle is capable of being converted into an air compressor.
Some years ago, kits were available, and I believe they still are -
though I haven't made a point to hunt them down recently - to replace
two of the cylinders n the little flat four-banger with compressor
cylinders, thus producing a combination two cylinder gasoline engine
powered compressor. Add a compressed air storage tank and y are ready
to go. Mounted on a stand, a cart or a small utility trailer, it is a
handy tool with great portability, giving you compressed air in the
shop, on the road, at the beach, in the mountains, whereever.
Just one more of those possibilities for the clay world.
Regards,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
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