Air Compressor Project

A couple of friends of mine are attempting to resurrect an old air compressor. It is not a particularly worthwhile project, a new compressor can be had from Harbor Freight for a little over a hundred bucks. Still, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks, and if they can get this thing working they will have acquired an air compressor for free. And they won't be giving the evil Red Chinese any money.

The problem is that the bottom of the tank has rusted out resulting in multiple holes. Jack has a welder, and they thought this would a perfect opportunity for the welder to earn it's keep. So they fired it up and poured a mess of liquid steel on the holes. Did not quite do the job. Seems someone tried to patch it before by brazing it, and then our two heroes tried to weld over it. Welding on top of brazing doesn't work too well. So they got serious and cut the whole rotten, patched and repatched mess out of the bottom of the tank. Inside they found a serious pile of rust, like two or three cupfuls, and this is only an eight gallon tank.

The cut out piece, previous patched, is lying on top of the tank.

The pile of the rust is a little hard to see in this picture. It is blatantly obvious in person. Perhaps the flash reduced the contrast between the pile and the sidewall of the tank.

New plan is to take a piece of plate steel they have lying around, form it to match the curve of the tank (I would like to see how they intend to accomplish that), and then weld it over the hole. Jack is a little concerned about the total air pressure that would be pushing on the patch, but hey, that's why you use a steel patch and weld it in place.