Gallery, Projects and General > Oooops!

Boom - or the Power of Compressed Air !

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JerryNotts:
Andrew, I don't remember what the service sheets said but one of the features of the genuine Hydrovane was simpicity of servicing. As long as you use the correct oil the separator works well enough.
I am sure that if you have had it long enough you will be well aware of the main wear points at the end faces and you probably keep spare gaskets so that you can take up this wear. Sourcing these gaskets was the problem that most customers had.
The point of the 3d is to check for out-of-balance due to blocking of the vane cooling slots. If you have the rotor out it's worth checking for this. If you find blockages then you should clear them. A quick blow through with compressed air should be enough. While you are at it check that the oil hasn't gone gummy.

Hope this helps.
Jerry  :coffee:

awemawson:
Jerry,

I confess that I've had it for ten years, it's been on 24/7, but not heavily loaded, and I only changed the oil and filters for the first time last week  :palm:

It was 'refurbished' when I bought it, and I'm sure that the oil and filters were new then, and it had been given a quick blow over with blue paint, and new labels. The foam inlet filter, surprisingly, was clean as a whistle, but the screw in one was a bit manky.

I've never dismantled it other than the filter and oil change last week  :bugeye:

DMIOM:

--- Quote from: awemawson on February 18, 2017, 06:39:33 AM ---....... One thing I could do with sourcing is a service manual for this compressor - I'm not sure of it's exact model - I suspect that it's a '15' - certainly the bits from a '15' service kit fitted ok.  Despite searching the interweb no downloads appeared :(

--- End quote ---

Andrew,

If I can 'volunteer' another member, I seem to recall that John Doubleboost has a similar compressor, and he recorded an overhaul for one of his video programmes.

Dave

awemawson:
Dave yes I remembered that and watched it again before I did mine. But that is only an 'oil change and filter change' - I was hoping for something a bit more 'internal' technically  :scratch:

JerryNotts:
Andrew this might be in the realm of teaching my grandmother, ... but just in case look at the UK Hydrovane site which has an animation showing the principle of operation.
What's not apparent though is that the vanes are not solid (unless they have sneakily changed the design from my time...). Their construction is the reason they were so proud of their product.

Each vane has holes which run radially through. As the rotation occurs things happen as you will appreciate, driven by the differential air pressure. Those holes conttribute to lightness, thus lower rotating mass and providing cooling due to the pumping action as the vanes move in and out.

The whole mechanism is ingenious and simple. You only need to keep tabs on the oil and occasionally on the end float. I don't recall the end float which we tried to maintain. That's where the different gasket thicknesses come in.  The threepenny bit test is a rough and ready way to check for wear. By standing the coin on its edge on top of the motor connector box ( flat surface) in line with the axis of rotation you can see if the balance has been affected. If the coin topples over then investigate further.

Jerry

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