Big Air Compressor For Sale

G'day All
I havea rather large air compressor that came out of a tyre buisness that i had a while ago. It runs great, i don't no the rating (CFM) of it but i'm guessing at around 45 - 50CFM. I allways ran fine, never gave me any trouble. Simmilar size ones i have seen new are in the price range between $3800 to $5200 depending on the brand / manufacturer.
This one is made by CASH Engineering in Melbourne.
I have not been able to find any info on them, i think they have been taken over by a larger Co .
I am after $2000.00 for it .If anyone is interested , you can email me or ring me on 0409 406 183. Thanks for looking.

Alistair - Cash are still going, they now trade as Cash Engineering Research.
They no longer build compressors, they woke up to the fact they couldn't compete on costs with bigger global corporations and the Chinese onslaught.
They now just sell licences for air compressor technology, a very smart thing to do.

If you call them, they may be able to advise you of any details on compressor output, etc. It appears that they ceased local manufacturing around the early 1980's.
I wouldn't think it was as big as 40-45CFM. I would expect maybe around 28-30CFM. The HP of the motor is a clue. I have a 10HP Atlas Copco and it's only 33CFM.

It does appear to be a 2-stage compressor, an excellent idea that produces high pressure.

A lot of these old compressors have been around a lot longer than it appears .. I often see Servex compressors for sale, and they date back to the mid-1930's! ..

Cash Engineering Research Pty Limited
28 Hull Street
Richmond VIC 3121

www.wipo.int/sme/en/case_studies/cash_engineering.htm

Thanks onetrack
This one is also 10HP Motor , so it's probably around the same (size) as yours. Will ring them this week if time permits.

Alistair

It is hard to compare the old prices with what you can get now but i just picked up a brand new 10hp,160ltr,39.5 cfm, 1121ltr/min 3 phase air compressor for $800 + $212 delivery from Fleabay item no. 150458407230
Advertised for $899 made an offer of $800 and got it.
I will take some pictures and post later.

Trevor

G'day Alistair,
Is it single or 3 phase?

-Stu

Stu - You can't drive a 10HP motor off single phase. It will most definitely be 3 PH.

Trevor - That's a good deal in many ways, but remember, you always get what you pay for.

With a Chinese compressor, if you're lucky, the peasants tightened ALL the bolts correctly .. and the blokes wearing thongs poured the molten metal into the molds at the right temperature, and you didn't get a huge air bubble in a casting.

For all intents and purposes, there is no parts availability for Chinese compressors, and very little by way of service information. Often Chinese compressors will fail, due to poor fastener quality, for example. They use mild steel fasteners instead of high tensile ones.

It IS good to see, that it comes with 12 mths warranty. However, in the event of a failure, they will supply you with a new compressor, not fix it .. but only the remaining amount of warranty will still apply, to the new compressor. Then you take the risk of the new compressor failing the same way.

My Atlas Copco is a 1979 model and I can still get parts for it, and plenty of service literature and information. It's direct drive, thus there are no belts to wear out, or pulleys to get misaligned. It's two stage, meaning it will produce 140 psi with ease, and reach maximum pressure in under 30 seconds.
The entire motor and compressor are mounted on rubber mountings to reduce noise and vibration.
The motor is an ASEA, a quality motor that will be going long after the Chinese compressors have burnt out 5 motors due to poor quality insulation.
The motor on my Atlas Copco has a huge manual/auto soft starter. This expensive starter eases the load on the mains and the motor when cranking up.

The manual/auto switch allows me to either have the motor and compressor running full-time, thus preventing constant start-ups (an unloader valve opens the compressor valves when the maximum pressure is reached) .. or I can have it working on a normal stop-start basis, shutting off when maximum pressure is reached.
The manual/auto switch allows you to choose the amount of running according to the amount of air you're using. There's nothing worse than a compressor starting and shutting down every 30 seconds.

I trust you get good service out of the Chinese compressor. However, the Chinese Quality Control is basically in your hands, not in the factory. They punch them out the door by the thousands a day, and if you're lucky, you get a good one .. if not, bad luck, they send you another to try again. That's Chinese QC, it has nothing to do with ensuring that quality standards are met and adhered to, in the factory, or in the specifications.

All Chinese manufacturers are noted for what is called "quality fade". They build an item to a basic standard, and sell it .. then they immediately try to substitute inferior materials and components to keep the price down.

It's worse if they are using other Chinese companies as suppliers to build their product, as many Chinese companies are noted for taking as many shortcuts as they can to produce an item.

Often those shortcuts are the result of corruption, where the product quality has been affected by the managers selling something on the side, such as high grade steel, and replacing it with mild steel.

I'll stick with my known and respected quality compressors, such as the Atlas Copco's and Ingersoll Rands, and all the Australian-built brands, that were built here, using quality components.
They'll still be going in 30 or 40 years, when the Chinese compressors have been scrap for 25 or 30 years.
When you see fine old Aussie-built Servex compressors for sale, and still running well .. and find they were built in the 1930's and 1940's, you realise what quality construction is all about.

Cheers - Ron.

Ron

As this compressor is only going to be used maybe 1-2 hours per week i hope it should last a while, I needed the extra capacity to run my sand blast cabinet so had to upgrade to 3 phase from the single phase Ingersol Rand.

When you talk about Servex Air Compressors they where built at Industrial Engineering (Steelweld) in Ashley Street West Footscray up until it closed in 1984, I did my apprenticeship there and we rotated around the different sections and i worked building the compressors at one stage and also we used to do an exchange service and rebuild the old ones.
I have sitting in my shed a fully rebuilt (twin cylinder Servex Pump unit only) so if the Chinese one shit's itself i will replace it with the servex one.
I think from memory i have also got one of those soft start units still in a box as well.

Here are the pic's on the new unit.







Trevor

Trevor - That's good to hear you've got a re-con Servex on standby .. .. and good to hear you played a part in producing them in the first place ..

I know how handy it is, to have that extra air capacity. However, I've seen too many of those Chinese compressors that have crapped themselves after only a few thousand hours, and then been thrown in a bin because they can't be repaired.

Ron

With the GLOBAL economy now a days things are built to a price range and only built to last 5-10 years and then you throw them away, dont know where the next China is going to be but sooner or later they are going to price them self out of the market just like ,tiawan,japan etc etc.

I wish we could bring back the good old days when things where built to last and we had factories manufacturing parts and not just huge warehouses storing overseas products. (but that aint gona happen).

Can you imagine any of todays trucks lasting 60,70 or even 80 years as with my 3 little inters i dont think so, Today if you get 10 years you have done well.

When i started my time at Indeng (1978) they still employed about 450 people by the time it closed 8 years later i think we were down to about 60 about 20 went across to the pump division and the rest of us were made redundent. Some of the old factories still stand today i think they are used to store carpet.

Ahh the good old days (sound like im old but i am only refering to 26 years ago) so how are we going to be in another 26.

Trevor

You can buy parts for the Chinese ones sold in Brisbane, the valve plates are about the only things that need replacing on the rare occasion. A new 50 cfm is about $3,000. I had one for 5 years running a workshop with between 10 and 18 blokes and 2 plasma cutters, I gave it to the bloke who does the painting for us when the pump carked it, and just bought a new compressor. He replaces the pump for $750 and is still using it. Divide $3,000 by 5, you can afford to throw them away if you want. There is nothing wrong with any of the one's I've had.