Air compressor

Dad's shop air compressor locked up last year.  We replaced it with a Harbor Freight compressor.  It worked, but we didn't have the capacity to run air tools like we needed and it was so noisy you couldn't talk in the shop when it was running.  We have a small air leak and when it kicked on in the middle of the night Mom was hearing it in the house.  We've looked and looked at compressors.  Harbor Freight, Tractor Supply, Sears, Rural King, Lowe's, Menard's on and on and on. Made in China, noisy, lightweight, throwaway. It got to the point I don't think Sue wanted to hear the words "air compressor" again.

I had heard a bit about Eaton on AgTalk.  I checked out their web site (www.eatoncompressor.com), talked to a few people, pondered on it a while.  I liked what I saw. They are not necessarily 100% US made, but a lot more than most.

 

 

Aman and I went to Louisville to the farm show last week.  One of my intended places to visit was the Eaton booth.  We stopped, we looked, we listened (they had one setting running in the booth!), we were impressed.  5 year warranty, 19 CFM at 100psi, 80 gallon tank, 145 maximum psi,  710 pounds.   I took a deep breath and ordered one.  It came today.

Only problem is, the road is posted for 10 tons.  I think the truck would have been OK, but to keep peace in the township we met the truck in town and loaded it on Aman's pickup.  

If you think it looked big in the semi you should have seen it in Aman's pickup.

Now where to put it?  We want to put it in the tool room.  They recommend installing them in an area that doesn't freeze, and that is about our only choice.  But until we find a new home for the lathe there isn't space.  So temporarily we put it overhead with the old compressor.  Aman brought over the Toyota forklift and we were able to get it fairly close. Not where we intended, there was just no way to maneuver it in, but we got it in the loft.   It just does fit.

We left it bolted to the pallet to spread the load out.I screwed the pallet to the floor so it wouldn't vibrate off in mid air.  We had some 4 conductor wire we bought at an auction and  some Bub Young hydraulic hoses.

OK, maybe I need to stop and explain that.  Bub was Grandma Millie's sister's husband.  Bub was  ... unique.  One of his business ventures was hauling refuse out of factories around Mattoon.  Often times Bub would save treasures he stumbled across and bring them down to Dad and Gramps.  He got a bunch of new hydraulic hoses that Blaw-Knx for some reason had discarded and brought them down.  They almost never fit anything.

We've stumbled over them for years, odd size, odd length, but today I was able to connect 2 of them together with a pipe coupler and use them to hook up the compressor to the air system.  Aman disconnected the cable to the old compressor, connected this one, and we were in business.

Mom was impressed

Actually, I was too.

I guarantee one thing, nobody's going to steal it unless they bring a forklift with them.