Had to say goodbye to an old friend (not human/pet)

[ausf]

We've been together since high school, going back to '81 or '82.

Old girl's been making a clanking noise, I'm guessing after 35 plus years, I can't complain.

I was eyeballing an Iwata Sprint, almost ready to pull the trigger but then came across a bit about it not having an auto-shut off. What?
I've been around compressors of all sizes and shapes in my lifetime, from ABing to running lifts and air tools and I've never heard of one not having a pressure switch. The Smart Air series is Iwata's level with a shut-off. I'm not bumping up to $270 for that, sorry. I'm Iwata junkie, but I draw the line at the ill equipped.

I settled on a Paasche D500. Autoshut off, runs up to 40 PSI (love that phrase, up to. My car can go up to 270 mph...off a cliff).
Reviews said it kept steady at around 25 PSI and was quiet. I generally spray at 15-25, so it's good for me. I was looking at older ones on eBay, running about $40-60 shipped, but the new ones are more horsepower (1/8 opposed to 1/10) and are readily available around $100. Went to my favorite online shop, OmniModels and found it for $85 shipped.

First impression, a lot smaller than I though it would be. It's compressor shaped, I assumed it would be the same size as every other cast metal dipped in paint that we're all familiar with, but it's smaller, thinner and unfortunately, feels cheaper. After closer inspection, the diaphram is the same size, but I don't feel like I'll be getting 30 years out of this one.

I fired it up to prime gloss black for the Vallejo Metals. Using the big Iwata, it worked fine at both 15 and 25 PSI, no drop off or pulse. When I switched to the smaller detail brushes, it would cycle on/off non-stop with any pressure under 40. No matter how long you held the trigger, it was just on/off/on/off...And only with the finer brushes. That looked like a deal-breaker in the making.

I sprayed some metal at 40 PSI, thinking maybe the gauge is inaccurate since the comp ran up to 60 before shut off. The session went fine, then as a test I hooked up my pressure tank for resin. Feeding the tank va the Paasche, adding the regulator/gauge to the spill valve, I found the gauges are right, it cycles on at 40, off at 60 (even says so under the external switch).

So, all is well, using a tank, I can control it down to about 8 and as high as 60 PSI without the cycling. The one good thing about the Paasche is it's super quiet, much quieter than the Badger, barely louder than the exhaust fan. My shop is above the bedrooms, so if I want to AB at night, I can't use the big compressor.

So, anyway, if you have an older compressor, hug it tight, the new options are not the same... :S

 

[moon puppy]

Well you got your money worth out of it.

 

[phantom II]

We've been together since high school, going back to '81 or '82.

Old girl's been making a clanking noise, I'm guessing after 35 plus years, I can't complain.

I was eyeballing an Iwata Sprint, almost ready to pull the trigger but then came across a bit about it not having an auto-shut off. What?
I've been around compressors of all sizes and shapes in my lifetime, from ABing to running lifts and air tools and I've never heard of one not having a pressure switch. The Smart Air series is Iwata's level with a shut-off. I'm not bumping up to $270 for that, sorry. I'm Iwata junkie, but I draw the line at the ill equipped.

I settled on a Paasche D500. Autoshut off, runs up to 40 PSI (love that phrase, up to. My car can go up to 270 mph...off a cliff).
Reviews said it kept steady at around 25 PSI and was quiet. I generally spray at 15-25, so it's good for me. I was looking at older ones on eBay, running about $40-60 shipped, but the new ones are more horsepower (1/8 opposed to 1/10) and are readily available around $100. Went to my favorite online shop, OmniModels and found it for $85 shipped.

First impression, a lot smaller than I though it would be. It's compressor shaped, I assumed it would be the same size as every other cast metal dipped in paint that we're all familiar with, but it's smaller, thinner and unfortunately, feels cheaper. After closer inspection, the diaphram is the same size, but I don't feel like I'll be getting 30 years out of this one.

I fired it up to prime gloss black for the Vallejo Metals. Using the big Iwata, it worked fine at both 15 and 25 PSI, no drop off or pulse. When I switched to the smaller detail brushes, it would cycle on/off non-stop with any pressure under 40. No matter how long you held the trigger, it was just on/off/on/off...And only with the finer brushes. That looked like a deal-breaker in the making.

I sprayed some metal at 40 PSI, thinking maybe the gauge is inaccurate since the comp ran up to 60 before shut off. The session went fine, then as a test I hooked up my pressure tank for resin. Feeding the tank va the Paasche, adding the regulator/gauge to the spill valve, I found the gauges are right, it cycles on at 40, off at 60 (even says so under the external switch).

So, all is well, using a tank, I can control it down to about 8 and as high as 60 PSI without the cycling. The one good thing about the Paasche is it's super quiet, much quieter than the Badger, barely louder than the exhaust fan. My shop is above the bedrooms, so if I want to AB at night, I can't use the big compressor.

So, anyway, if you have an older compressor, hug it tight, the new options are not the same... :S

Had a similar issue with my Badger compressor a few years back . It's blue and and white ( but the same )

Took it to a electric motor repair and changed out bearing for a few $ still running to this day.

Same compressor had armature rewound in Germany between 1983/86 . The man promised it would never fry a wire again...Again well worth the small price of repair .

Been going since mid 70's

Hope you have not deep sixed your yet

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[ausf]

Hope you have not deep sixed your yet

Cheers, Christian B)

No, I popped the front off and the bearing and crank are working as they should. I unscrewed the top where the diaphram is, but it's sealed tight, I didn't want to pry it.

Since the bearing and crank is going strong as well as the motor, I'll keep it as a backup. Maybe I'll pop the motor out to see if there's anything obvious with a bent fin on the fan or something. There's a distinct, clank every few seconds, there might even be some debris that fell into the housing.

I can't return the new one or at least if I did I'd lose out on hefty shipping both ways. The paasche is so quiet and using the tank gives me more control than I've had before so I'm no worse for wear, so even if I only get a few years out of it, it'll be worth it.

The Badger was screwed to the floor for the past fifteen years, when I took it off I found the serial number. It's a lot of zeros and 506, so I'd imagine it's an early example of the 180 line.

 

[phantom II]

I actually bought one from lowes with a tank and regulator . 150 PSI but it's very noisy and I have not used it since the badger got repaired . Too noisy but I could use it in the garage,

Cheers, Christian B)