New Compressor Installation

Vaughn McMillan

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ABQ NM
As I mentioned in a tease thread a few days ago, my new compressor arrived late last week. I took advantage of the fact that my sister and her husband were in town for a long weekend, and used my brother-in-law Jim as an extra (and stronger) back to help get it from the driveway to its final location in the shop.

I ordered the compressor a few weeks ago from Eaton Compressors. It’s a twin cylinder single stage pump attached to a true 5 HP motor, sitting on a vertical 60 gallon tank. I considered a lot of factors in buying this one. The whole process is discussed in this thread.

The compressor arrived on a pallet, surrounded on all four sides with very large cardboard walls. The package was taller than my garage door opening.

Mystery Box 600.jpg

The cardboard came off easily enough, and my first impression was “Man, this thing is huge.” I’ve been looking at 5 HP compressors at the Borgs and dealers, but none were scaled like this one. More on the size later…first, we had to get it installed. It came on two heavy wooden skids, bolted to the top of a nice wide pallet:

Air System 02 - 800.jpg

The shipping documents said the whole package weighed 550 pounds. One of the best $12 I ever spent was renting an engine hoist to get it off the pallet and moved into place. Here’s Jim contemplating the mess he’s let himself get talked into:

Air System 03 - 800.jpg

The first task was to cut down the pallet to allow us to straddle it with the hoist. Jim and I used to work together as construction inspectors, and we both seem to think alike when coming up with solutions for things. Even though we only see each other a couple times a year at best, we still work together like a well-oiled machine. Within a couple of minutes, and with very little debate, we had this:

Air System 04 - 800.jpg

That’ll fit:

Air System 05 - 800.jpg

(Like my purple lifting sling?) Since the extended lift wouldn’t fit through the overhead door of the shop, we needed to put the compressor on dollies. The next step was to remove the pallet, leaving the compressor on the two skids:

Air System 06 - 800.jpg

Then, we lowered it onto a pair of furniture dollies I use around the shop. One dolly would have worked, but we figured the more wheels the merrier. Since many projects are not complete unless duct tape is involved, we used some here to keep things where we wanted them.

Air System 08 - 800.jpg

It rolled into the shop easily, with about 2” of height clearance going through the overhead door. Once we had the compressor close to its final position, we rolled the lift inside and used it to remove the dollies and skids. We didn’t have much ceiling space to spare, but we had enough to get things out from under the compressor. My sister ponders the light fixture while Jim removed the skids:

Air System 11 - 800.jpg

After we got the underpinnings out of the way, we set the compressor on four of the foam/slippery plastic disks they advertise for sliding furniture around the house. That allowed us to slide the compressor into position, and will provide temporary isolation pads for a week or two until I decide on the exact final location and bolt it to the floor (with real isolation pads instead).

I ended up turning the compressor sideways to the clamp rack, to give me room for getting to the clamps. I use the clamps seldom enough that this arrangement won’t be too much of a problem.

Air System 18 - 800.jpg

As I said, I’ll probably tweak the location a bit more over the next week or two. I still also need to do a bit more shop re-arranging, including moving the metal vise to a different location on the bench.

Continued in the next post…
 
Now, a bit about the compressor. It’s big. :D

Air System 19 - 800.jpg

The pump is designed for a 7.5 HP motor, so the 5 HP motor isn’t really pushing it to its limits. The motor is the biggest 5 HP motor I’ve seen. Compared to the ones on my bandsaw (1 1/2 HP) and lathe (2 HP), it’s a giant.

Here’s the end of my lathe motor, with my hand curled around it for scale:

Air System 20 - 800.jpg

And the compressor motor for comparison, no curling necessary:

Air System 21 - 800.jpg

Or a side view of my bandsaw motor:

Air System 22 - 800.jpg

And the same look at the compressor motor:

Air System 23 - 800.jpg

And the specs for the motor:

Air System 25 - 800.jpg

The overall construction is also very impressive. Everything is heavy gauge, including the grill over the flywheel and dual belts. It will laugh at exploding bowls and such:

Air System 24 - 800.jpg

I got a chance to use the new rig for a while this evening. It’s almost a pleasure to sand a piece on the lathe now. The sander never slows down, and when the compressor does kick in, it’s not so loud that it’ll wake the dead. I know it’s way more than I really need, but I’m a happy camper and don’t regret spending the extra money to go beefy.

If you made it this far, thanks for following along. I'll post a separate thread about the air line piping setup.

Questions and comments are welcome. :wave:
 
Guys,


I'm really worried about Vaughn! I went to the Eaton Compressor site....and I found out that Vaughn had to select from a list of colors to get this sucker in PURPLE. Of course, then I realized who I was thinking of.....Vaughn....long-haired blonde ....guitar playing......guy from Southern California.... That explained it!:rofl:
 
Well Vaughn, I followed your compressor adventure from of the beginning, complete with the installing of the new air line system, it looks very professional and I'm impressed, and green of envy.
Boy that's great looking stuff. Poor me with such a small workshop.
Have a lot of fun with the further work you have to do.
Ad
 
Sigh.... and my hair isn't just turning grey, it's turning

LOOSE!


At least it's not purple.
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

DT
 
Last edited:
Vaughn,

Congrats! That thing looks like a tank...:eek: I've been over on the Eaton web site, and they certainly look like they are into air....:rofl::rofl:

I think you really got a good one:thumb: I'd like to have one about that same size, but horizontal for my shop layout. Your's fits well, if a bit tight to get your clamps out...:eek: :rofl:

Enjoy!
 
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