Upgrading air compressor

Yeah, that's where the prices seem to start for decent stuff, sad but true. If you can find a local compressor repair outfit, they sometimes have decent used offerings, rebuilt trade-ins and such.
 
I was hesitant to buy an Eaton compressor a few years back, but I must say, it works great! It had a small oil leak on the pump, and they stood behind it, no problem at all. It's equipped with a 7.5hp, and a heavy cast-iron pump and it chugs along quite nicely(not very loud). It was under 2 grand, and to me, a great value. Compressor has a 5yr "bumper-to-bumper" warranty.
 
Eaton gets mixed reviews. I have one of their small refrigerated dryers which works fine. What disappointed me was that they used to have American flags plastered all over their site, implying they were selling American made products, which they are not, at least not that I know. I think they have gotten rid of the flags.
 
i have to agree dan. i have a 7.5 as well and its been fantastic. when i first got it i had trouble with the motor where in the winter when everything was cold it didnt have enough starting torque. eaton ditched that mfg of motor and now uses the weg motors which are super. they sent me a brand new motor no charge. any dealings i have had with the company have been good. if i call, almost all the time i end up talking with matt the owner. kinda reminds me of spi. everything is good and heavy duty. if i had to complain, the things on the units that are kinda cheap and flimsy are things like brass ball valves and tiny stuff like that. mine is a 7 year old model now and gets used all day every single day. sometimes for blasting where it will run non stop for a couple hours straight. i look at them now and i see alot of improvements from mine. if i remember right someone on this forum had a 10hp bought about the same time as mine that they used for blasting and had some trouble with it.
 
crash if you go on their site now they explain the american flag thing. they put a flag on the parts that are made in the us or something to that effect. many parts are made here and many are made in china apparently now in their own factory.
 
I believe you, Jim. Their site is totally different now than in 2006 when I bought my dryer. If you say they are OK, that's good enough for me.
 
Since it's Christmas time I like looking around at things I can't have yet :) But I like planning for my future garage. I don't think I looked close enough at the Eaton site and missed their "industrial" compressor section back when we had this discussion. The Industrial units seem to be better deals than the "premium" units. Of course I want to see what you guys think. I like this one http://www.eatoncompressor.com/catalog/item/8165853/8862251.htm What's funny is that I actually have 3-phase at the house (was built in 1954), but all these are single phase. I sent them an email and find out the difference. I am guessing Industrial must be all overseas made or something...

Also, Merry Christmas!
 
Check out the Curtis ML5 or ML7.5, both have fully pressurized oil systems, tapered roller bearing mains, insert con rod bearings, even pressure fed wrist pin oiling.

FL Curtis ML series pump.jpg

click to enlarge

Full cast iron block cylinders crank rods pistons and heads.
NO reed valves, has true poppet disc valves.
Reed valves are an expensive failure to repair as well as not being as efficient flowing.
Check out the output, 18.2cfm@175psi continuous from a 5hp compressor, albeit a 625# one. Step up to 7.5hp (675#)and the numbers go up to 27.6cfm@175psi. Both are rated for continuous duty cycle, both motor and compressor unit.
5yr bumper to bumper warrantee.



When I have an extra $3440 the ML5 ultrapack hopefully will be my next compressor.
 
Generally, big and slow turning is good. The Eaton seems to resemble an offshore knock-off of the Saylor-Beall V4.
 
This is the reply I got back about the difference between Premier and Industrial.

"The industrial compressors do not come with an auto drain, continuous run, belt tensioner & 1 ½” angle iron under the pump."
 
since 1980 i have only bought 3 compressors . all 3 were rebuilt. my current one is a 5 hp i bought in 1982 .
 
Senile Old Fart;33248 said:
Check out the Curtis ML5 or ML7.5, both have fully pressurized oil systems, tapered roller bearing mains, insert con rod bearings, even pressure fed wrist pin oiling.

View attachment 3006
click to enlarge

Full cast iron block cylinders crank rods pistons and heads.
NO reed valves, has true poppet disc valves.
Reed valves are an expensive failure to repair as well as not being as efficient flowing.
Check out the output, 18.2cfm@175psi continuous from a 5hp compressor, albeit a 625# one. Step up to 7.5hp (675#)and the numbers go up to 27.6cfm@175psi. Both are rated for continuous duty cycle, both motor and compressor unit.
5yr bumper to bumper warrantee.



When I have an extra $3440 the ML5 ultrapack hopefully will be my next compressor.
Click to expand...


I'm surprised they don't show a 7.5 hp mode... 5hp wouldn't be enough for me.. The dual model however looks pretty sweet, you could set one to kick on at a slightly lower pressure so the second one would only kick on when using a lot of air.
 
Chad.S;33277 said:
I'm surprised they don't show a 7.5 hp mode... 5hp wouldn't be enough for me.. The dual model however looks pretty sweet, you could set one to kick on at a slightly lower pressure so the second one would only kick on when using a lot of air.
Click to expand...

They make the ML series from 5hp to 30 hp in both single and duplex configurations, http://techmatesolutions.net/equipment/index.php?c=1800&s=1802

The duplex ML30 might be able to keep up with you, 204 cfm@175psi ;)
ML%20UltraPack%20Duplex.jpg


To be a bit more realistic here is the ML7.5 ultra
 
204cfm wow.. that should do it.. lol

the 7.5 would be the one i'd be looking at..
I just picked up a 7.5 compressor for my house last summer, but haven't been able to run it much.
 
Thread back from the dead. Those Curtis sure would be nice compressors! But for the home handy man like myself, it is overkill. Since I started this thread, I have learned a lot about old compressors. I picked up a Kellogg for a decent price that I fixed up. I'm not sure why, but I decided I would try to sell it. 24 hours later, it was gone and $200 profit. A few weeks later, I picked up this Champion r15 for $250. Lots of elbow grease, gaskets, and miscellaneous fittings, and it is running great! It doesn't take up as much space in the garage.
 
awesome :) A lot of the old stuff is a great find if you know where to find the parts to freshen them up, which I don't,lol.
 
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