Welp, my little MAC700 has been down for a couple days. She was popping the thermal protector switch nonstop, so I had to take her apart and figure out what the hell was going on.
Turns out she was a dirty girl. I must have blown out about a kilo of sawdust from the windings, and you don't want to know what was in the head. After a thorough cleaning, I still wasn't happy with her performance. She was blowing breakers. She never blows breakers. I was shocked.
I pulled the pressure switch and got it in my head that the problem was likely there (it wasn't). I cleaned all the contacts and she did work a little better. She was still pulling too much current, and she simply wasn't running right. I could hear it.
After replacing the pressure switch (yep, I managed to get it back together, but with a leak so...) I worked my way through all the likely causes of a high current, low torque situation. The capacitor tested good. She was clean. No more leaks that I could find. Hmmm.....
It was then I noticed my centrifugal switch arcing at start and stop. A bright flash. I had the cover off running tests, and I could see it. There was some soot from the arcing on the motor housing near the switch. That's bad. That's really, really bad.
Youtube to the rescue. Grizzly did a video about centrifugal switch adjustment that did the trick. I walked through it, cleaned the points and polished them with 1000 grit. Adjusted the switch in, and voila! I got my compressor back!
Unfortunately, putting the reformed girl back together sprung a leak in my lead line right before the check valve. (sigh)
I pulled her hosiery up (don't tell anybody) recut the line and flared the end with a pair of needle-nose pliers of all things. (Hey, it worked.) Put her back together and made her decent so she didn't feel all exposed, and there we go! No more inlet leak!
She's running again. She's still pulling 12 plus amps with the Husky brand full synthetic but, (shrug) it'll work for now. I'm really not happy with that oil performance at all. The pump should be running much cooler with a full synthetic.
No more arcing at the contacts on the centrifugal switch. New tank pressure gauge (the old one was broken). New pressure switch (actually, I like the new switch, and am glad I spent the $14 for it). New thermal breaker (yes, I changed it out with a new one for $9). It's white instead of black. Style matters (lol). And I replaced the pit cock. My old one had rust on the ball. It leaked very, very slowly. $4 was a cheap repair.
Total cost of my tuneup was $27 with tax. Vastly cheaper than a new little red PC banger. Now, I'd like to get a big 'ol pig tank, and put my girl on a cart. With wheels. 50 lb might not be bad for a compressor, but it's still a little much imho. And 7 and a half gallons is better than 2.6.
Someday, maybe. When I find a really good deal on a tank I'll upgrade my teal baby girl.
No comments:
Post a Comment