Saylor Beall 745-80 rebuild

[isbj60]

Well, I got tired of my POS Craftsman 33 gallon compressor throwing breakers and not keeping up with any tool I own. I've been on the lookout for a good compressor for while, and found this relatively close to me:



It's a Saylor Beall 745-80, 7.5hp 26ish CFM at 175 psi, 80 gallon tank. It is a three phase, so I got it relatively cheap. I will need to convert it to single phase by swapping the motor. I am pretty excited: Saylor Beall compressors are incredible. The epitome of american made. The pump model on this compressor is the 707, and it has remained in production for many decades relatively unchanged. Here is the parts manual.

When I went to pick it up, I noticed it was missing one of the intercoolers, and the inspection plate bolts on one side were partially backed out. Insert appropriately creepy music here... I did get some more money taken off the price for that. Got it home, and decided to take it apart for a cleaning and inspection. More shots of the arrival condition.

 

[isbj60]

More arrival state pictures.

Size reference


Got tank rust?


Where the pressure switch was. This is going to be fun.

 

[isbj60]

So I took off the pump and motor, got the pump on a bench, and took off the inspection cover that was partially undone when I got it. The little bit of oil in the bottom looked ok, until...




This was nicely settled out in the oil sump. Cue more creepy music.

I couldn't find anything immediately obvious looking at the rod caps.



So I decided to start at the top end. It needs to come off anyway to get to the bottom end, and it really doesn't want to turn over by hand. I guess the compression is high, so removing the valves will allow more inspection and allow it to turn over better to get a complete look at the bottom.

 

[isbj60]

So I started on the valves. Removing the first cover yielded this:



Poop. Looks like custom tool time. A little lathe work:

 

[isbj60]

And some (ugly) welding:





Instant spanner wrench! It works, too. Bonus!

 

[isbj60]

Got the heads off:



No apparent damage. Also, it's not any easier to turn. You know what this means...



@#^%&@$#



@*&^#*&%#$(@)*#

 

[isbj60]

Starting briefly with 320 grit, 10 strokes or so, then 400 and 600:



I do not have a micrometer, so it's hard for me to get an accurate measure on it. It appears to be at or slightly under min. spec. after polishing. I check fit with a good rod end from the low pressure pistons, and it feels good. We'll run it and find out, I guess. I also found a born-on date:



This thing is older than I thought. Contacted the local parts place to get a quote on all new bearings, gaskets, rings, and a new intercooler. Ouch! I had better run for another 25 years!

 

[isbj60]

All new bearings includes new needle bearings for the wrist pins, so I decided to finish the teardown of the reciprocating assemblies.

High pressure piston wrist pin, with weird brass caps (they act as retainers.)




Why is there brass on this thing?



Where are the needle bearings? Looks like they made a design change to the rods sometime after 1984... Guess I'll be adding new rods and wrist pins to that parts quote.

 

[isbj60]

Now it's cleaning up parts time, while waiting for the final quote and some matching funds to place the order. Hopefully some time early next week. Piles of clean parts:




I must say Metal Rescue is fantastic. Just soak rusty parts in it and it eats the rust and nothing else. These parts are coming out looking like new, and the most effort I had to expend in the process was multiple 12oz curls... My kind of wrenching!

This brings me up to date so far. Where from here? Order the new pump parts, order a bunch of stuff from McMaster Carr (filters, drain valves, gages, pressure switches, reliefs, new motor pulley, regulator, etc.), and order a new motor. I have some stuff coming from Automation Direct to make a contactor, since pressure switches cannot handle that much single phase horsepower directly.

Some thoughts: the 707 pump with the 7.5 hp motor spins at 655 rpm. That gives 26.something CFM at 175 psi. The same pump is used on the 10hp model, except that motor can spin it at 845 rpm. That's 35 CFM at 175 psi... Since I need a new motor anyway, I might as well spend the 200 or so more on the 10 horsepower one. This should be the last compressor I will ever need to buy.

Pictures on assembly will be more thorough, I promise. I was in a bit of a hurry to find out what the extent of the problem was...

 

[gibby2235]

You will be happy with it once you get it going. I have a 735-80, mine is the upright tank. Runs anything ive ever asked it to! I lucked into mine several years ago when a guy was retiring and closing his shop, paid $400 for it.

 

[isbj60]

That is an incredible deal. I really wanted a vertical tank, too. I hope the rust in this one isn't so bad I have to buy one now, though...

 

[Rubiconcruiser]

WOW what a score, and a fine job of cleaning it up. There are truly no better compressors out there than the Saylor Beale, I had three of them in my boiler room for many years.

 

[isbj60]

Long overdue

It's been a while for updates. Things happen slowly around the holidays. Finally got some parts, so on to the progress.

The new high pressure rods, with needle bearings. Notice the larger oil hole to the main bearing. I enlarged the holes in the low pressure rods to match.



Bearing and race numbers for the roller taper crankshaft bearings, for posterity.

 

[isbj60]

Some assembly pictures. I forgot to take pics of the valves. Used Lubriplate 105 on everything. Great assembly lubricant.

 

[isbj60]

Final assembly. With helper. It got all new reliefs, unloader muffler, and intake filters in the rebuild. Intercooler reliefs are 70 PSIG, and the aftercooler and tank reliefs are 200 PSIG.



Helper got to chose the final color. Thankfully I like it too.

 

[isbj60]

Had to make a new controller for it, since a 10 hp single phase motor is too much to start with just a pressure switch. It draws 39 full load amps, 215 amps inrush. I used a Fuji manual motor starter with integral overload protection, aux contacts, alarm contacts, and a remote operating handle. This will send power to the contactor (also a Fuji unit). The contactor is controlled by a 145-175psig pressure switch, and the red light on the top comes off of the alarm contacts of the MMS to let me know there is a problem with the compressor. I included an hour meter for maintenance purposes, and put the pressure gage in the controller. It is glycerin filled.







I still need to finish cleaning and painting the tank. Then I need to get locking casters for the tank legs and the new motor ($$$), some belts, and then it is complete. Soon...

 

[spotcruiser]

Nice work, Kevin. Now it needs a BSDS circuit.

 

[isbj60]

Haha. Travis is helping me out with wire sizes and other pitfalls of the nec. Once this is done, the new drill press is getting a vfd... I love automationdirect!

 

[spotcruiser]

Cool. I didn't even realize you could get a vfd sized for a home drill press. Honestly, I just have mine belted for low speed and never change it. Travis mentioned that you guys were planning to build a CNC plasma cutter. You certainly have the room for it.

Once this is done, the new drill press is getting a vfd... I love automationdirect!

 

[isbj60]

Cool. I didn't even realize you could get a vfd sized for a home drill press. Honestly, I just have mine belted for low speed and never change it. Travis mentioned that you guys were planning to build a CNC plasma cutter. You certainly have the room for it.

You know me, Todd. This isn't a home drill press... I will start a thread detailing that project here soon. We are indeed working on a CNC plasma. Maybe in a couple of years for that.

I got the tank cleaned out yesterday. Got about a half pound of rust out of it. Pretty nasty. I don't think I will have any issues with it, but the only way to find out is to plug it in and stand well back. I coated the inside with POR-15 to fix the rust I couldn't get out in place so it won't clog the automatic tank drain inlet screen. Two chainfalls makes that an easy task. I put in a quart and a pint, since that is what I had, and I used way more than I needed to for an 80 gallon tank. So epoxy coating the inside of a new compressor tank should only take a couple of hours and ~$35 of POR-15.

I also welded on some unistrut to mount the motor controller to. Typical for me, I measured the distance between the mounting holes on the controller, welded it up, then realized when I measured I burned an inch on the tape. So the mount got some additional pieces welded to it. I hate the fact that the unistrut comes electro-galvanized. Ever try fitting a respirator under a welding hood? Fortunately the shop has good ventilation, proven by a smoke test at the weld site before actual welding took place...

Pictures tonight hopefully.