Tool repairs? No problem!

Whenever someone offers to give me a tool, I usually take it. Even if I can't use it, someone I know probably can. 

So - when a buddy offered this compressor to me, I jumped at it, 

even though it a had an obvious problem. Parts of the manifold were missing. Ruh-roh.

That's what the internet and a credit card are for, right?  In no time, I'd ordered the manifold, and hoped that was all that was wrong with the compressor. 

Fast forward a few days - the part came in the mail, and it was time to put the tool on the bench and figure out how to take it apart. 

Luckily,  there were only two screws that were holding things up. This one, 

and this one. Once they were removed, you can swing the motor out of the way and remove the old manifold by unscrewing it. 

The new one even came with a replacement nipple. And you know how we feel about that!

Screwing the new one on took about thirty seconds.

All that was left was to reconnect the pressure hose - pretty simple, once I found a small hose clamp. (The new manifold came with a clamp, but it was the kind that needed a special crimping tool, so I chose not to use it.)

Most repairs aren't this simple - I was lucky this time. I don't think it took more than ten minutes to do this repair. I found the perfect cart for this compressor at the local swap meet; it makes it really easy to roll around the shop. 

 No compressor is complete without a hose, and I've been spoiled by a hose that my buddy Dan gave me last year. So I hunted down another. 

Once you use one of these, you'll never want to use any other kind. They don't kink, they coil smoothly, and they're lightweight. Seriously it's a hybrid polymer hose with zero memory, so it lies perfectly flat, wherever you're using it. 

Spoil yourself.