Subject: Compressor

From: "Jeffrey R. Trites" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 19:32:37 -0700

Has anyone ever made a compressor which they are happy with?

If so, how did you do it?

I am interested in making one, I think...  Thanks for any help! 

   Jeff Trites

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From: [email-masked] (Earl C Edgerton)
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 15:59:55 GMT

>    Jeff Trites

While visiting a friend on his ranch and looking through the "boneyards" for 
antique car parts, I noticed couple of these types of compressors.  It was a 
Model A engine in which 2 of the cylinders were used to produce the compressed
air while it ran off the other 2 cylinders.  Simply plumb the lines using the 
spark plug holes.  What an idea! Of course, people back then had alot of creative 
ideas.

Earl

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From: [email-masked] (Blake Malkamaki)
Date: 14 May 1996 04:27:33 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] wrote:

$ > Has anyone ever made a compressor which they are happy with?
$ 
$ > If so, how did you do it?
$ 
$ > I am interested in making one, I think...  Thanks for any help! 
$ 
$ >    Jeff Trites
$ 
$ 
$ While visiting a friend on his ranch and looking through the "boneyards" for 
$ antique car parts, I noticed couple of these types of compressors.  It was a 
$ Model A engine in which 2 of the cylinders were used to produce the compressed
$ air while it ran off the other 2 cylinders.  Simply plumb the lines using the 
$ spark plug holes.  What an idea! Of course, people back then had alot of
creative 
$ ideas.
$ 
$ Earl

This was most likely factory made.  I have seen many of them, most built
by Schramm, and many using Ford flat head V-8s.  They have special heads
and don't just use the engine heads.

Blake
Blake Malkamaki, Little Mountain Ironworks, Concord, Ohio <[email-masked]>
>>Steam engines - Cletrac Crawler Tractors - Maple Syrup - Metal Signs<<
http://www.ncweb.com/users/blake

---

From: "John R. Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 12:46:29 -0500

> and don't just use the engine heads.

Right.  There were a number of larger aircompressors on the market about
thirty or forty years ago made from Ford flatheads.  You pull the valves
>from  one bank and put on a special head that has inlet check valves and
outlet check valves to a delivery manifold.  You run it on the four 
cylinders on the other side.  You have to be sure you modify the intake
manifold to only put fuel mixture to the four cylinders that are running
as an engine.  Compressed fuel/air mixture could be quite explosive in 
your air tool!  
They delivered a LOT of air at about 90 psi.  Excellent for jackhammers 
and similiar tools.
JOhn

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 17:17:02 GMT

>   "John R. Johnson" <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>  (in response to other messages on this topic, here omitted)
>  
Twenty years or so ago, someone made up similar compressors out of
Volks engines.  They were supposed to have worked out pretty well.

---

From: [email-masked] (Jim Naylor)
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 07:37:27 -0600

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.960515145912.2847I-100000@reliant>, "John R.
Johnson" <[email-masked]> wrote:

> On Wed, 15 May 1996 [email-masked] wrote:
> I would think they would be particularly easy to convert.  Swept volume
> would be a little low for a jack hammer, but ok to most things.  Use 
> the older heads that didn't have the siamesed intake port and run it as
> an opposed twin with an opposed twin compressor.  Pull the exhaust
> pushrods for the compressor pair.  Break the intake manifold so the
> fuel mixture only goes to the running pair.  Screw a check valve into
> the spark plug hole and pipe it to your air tank.  

John and all,
This sounds like it would work, but only produce roughly half the
potential air and with half the efficiency of what you'd get with the
special head with checkvalves. If I've got your easy conversion figured
right, you'd get full pressure at the spark plug check valve on the
compression stroke alright, but without the "fire," you'd be pulling a
vacuum on the power stroke and relieving it on what would have been the
exhaust stroke (the lost potential compression stroke?).

-- 
Jim Naylor                             [email-masked]
Wichita KS

---

From: "John R. Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 May 1996 07:53:05 -0500

That is exactly true, Jim.  That is why special heads are usually
used.  You could pull both pushrods on each "compressor" cylinder
and drill and tap another hole into the head for in "input" check
valve and almost double the air output.  I say almost because there
would be a fair amount of loss on the downstrokes because of the
throttleing in the check valve.
John

---

From: [email-masked] (Douglas)
Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 23:18:29 GMT

"John R. Johnson" <[email-masked]> wrote:

>:On 14 May 1996, Blake Malkamaki wrote:

>:> In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] wrote:
>:> 
>:> $ > Has anyone ever made a compressor which they are happy with?
>:> $ 
>:> $ > If so, how did you do it?
>:> $ 
>:> $ > I am interested in making one, I think...  Thanks for any help! 
>:> $ 
>:> $ >    Jeff Trites
>:> $ 
>:> $ 
>:> $ While visiting a friend on his ranch and looking through the "boneyards" for 
>:> $ antique car parts, I noticed couple of these types of compressors.  It was a 
>:> $ Model A engine in which 2 of the cylinders were used to produce the compressed
>:> $ air while it ran off the other 2 cylinders.  Simply plumb the lines using the 
>:> $ spark plug holes.  What an idea! Of course, people back then had alot of
>:> creative 
>:> $ ideas.
>:> $ 
>:> $ Earl
>:> 
>:> This was most likely factory made.  I have seen many of them, most built
>:> by Schramm, and many using Ford flat head V-8s.  They have special heads
>:> and don't just use the engine heads.
>:> 
>:> Blake

>:Right.  There were a number of larger aircompressors on the market about
>:thirty or forty years ago made from Ford flatheads.  You pull the valves
>:from one bank and put on a special head that has inlet check valves and
>:outlet check valves to a delivery manifold.  You run it on the four 
>:cylinders on the other side.  You have to be sure you modify the intake
>:manifold to only put fuel mixture to the four cylinders that are running
>:as an engine.  Compressed fuel/air mixture could be quite explosive in 
>:your air tool!  
>:They delivered a LOT of air at about 90 psi.  Excellent for jackhammers 
>:and similiar tools.
>:JOhn

Someone is now offering a cam that will allow the use of a VW engine for a
compresser. Fires on two, pumps on two.

If your interested I'll track down the info.

Respectfully,

Douglas

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