Advise in I-R T-30 air compressor, serviceable or scrap?

What the price of emglo/jenny compressors these days. Thats what id buy there made right handy to me dad had one since 93 and it runs everyday with out a complant

Post of pic of the cylinder damage. Maybe easy to patch and make it functional. Since you have a Haas VMC, you should have the ability to oversize it, patch weld/bore/hone, and/or sleeve it. It's an air compressor...not a Powerstroke. Edit: Thinking about it, we've repaired machine tool ways, quill bores, and half nuts with metal filled epoxies. I forgot the name of the exact epoxy we used 20 years ago but it was filled with a mix of bronze, brass, and other wearable metals. Good stuff. To be honest, if clean the gouge well and etch it with acid, I think even JB Weld might get you functional. Once the rings set, they ride on the metal and the epoxy just acts to reduce leakage.

Devcon is probably better than JB weld. Belzona has some great epoxies but not that easy to get. There are epoxies for building up wear in pumps and things that would likely work good for a compressor.

Well here is some pics of the carnage. Sadly the cross hatch pattern is still good as the unit only has at most a few hours use per week for 5 years.

I would hone it, and slap a new reed and new rings on it. You might be surprised.

Can you feel those scratches with your fingernail? If not I'd do the same, rings and the valve and you'll be good to go and a whole bunch of beer money left over. Joe H

Joe H said: Can you feel those scratches with your fingernail? If not I'd do the same, rings and the valve and you'll be good to go and a whole bunch of beer money left over. Joe H Click to expand... Yes the gouges are deep.

The gouges may be deep enough to easily catch your fingernail but I agree with all above that a light hone to knock the high spots down may get you back in business. That's a pump worth saving. Here's my thoughts: That cylinder looks like the primary or low psi cylinder so it's maybe making half of your total compression cycle, like 60-80psi max. That little psi shouldn't leak too much through those scratches. What air does get past your rings should vent through your crankcase vent (I assume it has a decent size vent because of different sized pistons- just make sure it's clean). Unlike a gas/diesel engine that needs perfect sealing rings for 1) full psi for clean combustion, 2) prevent combustion byproducts from contaminating the oil, 3) and prevent oil from getting into your combustion chamber, your rings are really just for compression efficiency. The only downside I see from a light hone and leaving the scratches is you might have some oil coming into your air stream but only you will know if that's problem for your setup. I understand pump oil is non-detergent to help prevent foaming and let particles settle out (unlike motor oil that needs the suspension to let the filter do the cleaning) so you might want to try a heavier non-detergent oil. And you may have to check it more often until you get used to how much oil it consumes...but I don't think it will. As you know, it's worth the effort to save this pump. Like said above, what do you have to lose?

I wonder if a "good" welder could TIG that with silicon-bronze then bore and hone it?

LegdocII said: I wonder if a "good" welder could TIG that with silicon-bronze then bore and hone it? Click to expand... Probably. But by the time you invest in all that, I wonder if it's cheaper to buy an individual cylinder jug from IR.

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Might not be too expensive to rebuild the compressor pump. Could save a few thousand $$$$ over buying a new one.

A new pump is $1,800.00. I may have found a used cylinder for $80.00. Using new OEM parts, cylinder,rings, piston, valve plate and gaskets is almost that. I-R parts are insanely expensive. Some have said to just go buy a DeWalt and run it. When it takes a dump replace it. That mentality goes against my way of doing business.

I’m no help here but, i think it’s a terrible shame what’s become of IR. They at one time were true industry leaders in everything pneumatic now a joke of a company. And what’s extra sad is that it’s so typical of American industry. I have the same compressor and it’s really been great. Hope it stays that way. FYI, when i got mine, bought used, it was full of water up to the middle of the tank (vertical) where the air discharges.

I would hone and run it as is. If crankcase vent airflow is to high, I would consider installing a sleeve. Any type of epoxy filler or welding repair I suspect will end poorly.

Why bother fixing this one if the tanks deemed good get another compressor head to bolt on it

Well here is today's update. I pulled the jug and plan to take it to a automotive machine shop as I don't have a 4" hone. The piston has stainless valve remnants fused to it with a small gouge on the periphery at the top. I think it will clean up. The valve plate is shot. I can't believe how the valve remains fused to the plate. I could not scrape it clean. I put a wire wheel to it and where the foreign material came off the plate is pitted at the sealing surface. So I will labor on...

LegdocII said: I put a wire wheel to it and where the foreign material came off the plate is pitted at the sealing surface. Click to expand... Yeah, it's got some damage but lap it good, then blue it and do a light lap to see where it will really seal against the reed valve. This looks like the intake (suction) side for the low pressure cylinder where the sealing is least critical. The main sealing surface to worry about is on the output or topside of your plate where it's always holding the higher pressure from back leaking. Again, you might be losing some efficiency if you re-use this plate but hard to say until you try it. When you take the jug to the machine shop, see if they have a surface grinder for your plate. A few passes with it would probably do wonders.

LCA078 said: Yeah, it's got some damage but lap it good, then blue it and do a light lap to see where it will really seal against the reed valve. This looks like the intake (suction) side for the low pressure cylinder where the sealing is least critical. The main sealing surface to worry about is on the output or topside of your plate where it's always holding the higher pressure from back leaking. Again, you might be losing some efficiency if you re-use this plate but hard to say until you try it. When you take the jug to the machine shop, see if they have a surface grinder for your plate. A few passes with it would probably do wonders. Click to expand... Good idea! The plate was surface ground originally. My other question? Assuming the jug is useable, I already have the high pressure head off. Should I do a complete overhaul, bearings, rods or just patch it up? That's the typical million dollar question. Every time I have tried to cheap it I have been bit on the arse. So I rarely do it. By the way I'm about 95 miles South of Austin. SAVE TEXAS!

That one had some bad luck but there are thousands of old compressors that run every day for 50 or 60 years and are still going strong. If any thing replace the reed plate and be done with it. I meant the other reed plate, that's the weak link in the chain. Joe H