Compressor alternative for a Siphon Burner

[GypsyTinker]

Looks good! As far as a dimmer, try it and see. An AC motor's speed is usually determined by the frequency of the electricity though.

So running it at lower speeds may create heat by causing hard to describe collapses of magical fields.

[Harry]

Well that really isnt topic drift discussing it here but you probably will want your own thread for your project.

3/4 hp is a lot of motor for this little thing, I dont think the little motor I have is 1/10 hp.

[4cylndrfury]

yeah, the thing can supposedly cut thru 1" tiles, so the motor is pretty stout. Worst case scenario, if I do burn this one up, I have a slower rotating motor from another scavenged machine. I could make a few pulleys to increase final drive and see where that gets me too. Either way, i like where this is heading!

[Harry]

One place to get a speed controlled 110v AC motor is a sewing machine. I think those spin pretty quick and you could probably find one on craigslist missing parts that are needed for sewing for next to nothing.

[GypsyTinker]

Sewing machines are a great idea for parts!

I think the auto compressor might be worth investigating. Ever try it?

[Harry]

Have not tried an auto AC but have read a few places where people have used them. Seems older larger ones are the choice which fits well with scrounging in the junkyards.

[4cylndrfury]

I wonder how well an auto ac compressor would run or for how long without refrigerant. Do they need the refrigerant to lubricate the compressor?

[Wayne]

I wonder how well an auto ac compressor would run or for how long without refrigerant. Do they need the refrigerant to lubricate the compressor?

Old auto A/C compressors make good air compressors. You need an oil separator on the output and you have to add a few oz's of oil to the input from time to time. I've got a big old V2 cyl one from my old 69 Chrysler sitting in back of the shop. Was going to build a shop compressor out of it but found a good compressor at a yard sale so don't need it now. I'm thinking of making a vacuum pump out of it.

Wayne

[Harry]

Got the base made for the Tiny Compressor. Just used a couple pieces of 3 1/2" x 3/4" wood for patterns, one about 8" long and the other about 3 1/2" long. There was no draft on them and they were not sanded smooth so when I pulled them I go some pretty good tear outs in the sand. I just used a putty knife and put some sand back and smoothed it up.

Still need to get an air filter which will make it quieter but even just putting the hex nipple on the intake made it considerably quieter. I ran it full speed for about 30 minutes and checked its temperature and had a 20* rise over ambient on everything, the power supply, pump and motor so It looks like it will run nice and cool ofr long periods.

Another thing I checked was what kind of pressure it would make, now that everything was sealed up good it will easily peg the 15 psi gauge so I know it will go to at least 20 PSI just not open flow through the .2 GPH nozzle. I am seriously thinking about getting a second setup and running them together to boost the volume. The 11 PSI at open flow that it made while testing will run the siphon nozzle pretty damn good but by having two running together I will have the option of really cranking it up and also be able to run it at lower speed most of the time which will be easier on the pump and loads quieter as the noise drops a lot by slowing it down just a little. Plus the new big scrapper will be a two burner so a second setup will be needed for that and it will leave me with a spare in case one goes down.

Here is how the bottom was done to mount the upright. I used the cnc to mill out a couple of 0.75" x 0.50" pockets for recessing the bolt heads and tapped the holes into the upright. This is solid as a rock.

You can see there was some slight subsidence on the casting. I did not do anything for a bob on this but since it was the bottom it wont be seen. I had thought about milling it flat but instead just dropped it on the belt sander to clean it up a little.

The pump was drilled out for 1/4 20 bolts to go through and the holes in the base tapped. The motor already had the studs in it so I only had to find nuts and had some with the star locking rings on them.

The 1.25" hole for the motor shaft was also done on the mill, 60 IPM at a depth of 0.05" per pass... only took a couple minutes.

The coupling is a piece of vinyl tubing I had laying around that was a nice snug fit. If I have any troubles with it I will make an aluminum coupling with set screws since both shafts have flats on them but I think this will work fine since there is not a lot of load on the shafts.

I can say I am very pleased with this setup even though I have not run it yet. I am confident on how it will perform and the only issue left is how well it will last. It wasnt cheap to put together with the parts being close to $100 which as I mentioned is what I paid for the 3 hp (HFs claim not mine) compressor from Harbor Freight but this is an order of magnitude quieter to run and has to be next to nothing in power consumption.

[Nudge]

That thing is tiny Still if it will do the job, that is all that is all that is needed