Just bought a slightly used money air compressor.

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

TechDeep

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
333
Reaction score
132
Location
Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
# of dives
500 - 999
Had never heard of these, but looks just like many of the compressors out there.

(5) MONEY AIR MINI MONEY ALL IN ONE SYSTEM (4.2 SCFM) - COMPRESSORS - Emoneypaintball.net - EMONEY PAINTBALL

Got a sweet deal from a paintballer that got out of the business. it is a year old, but has seen very little use, looks brand new. I assume the first thing I should do is change the oil. Ok, read the manual, then change the oil.

Anyone with any tips on how I should proceed with a unit such as this, or if you have any information on this particular brand, please speak up.
 
Yup ... MCH6

Change the oil and put in breathing air quality synthetic, replace the outlet filter with one for breathing air and you should be fine.
 
Just be aware that, even though we tell them not to, a lot of the paintball guys hook these up to bulk bottles and that just eats them up. These are NOT continuous duty machines ... one scuba tank at a time.

You can usually tell if they ran it on bulk bottles by inspecting the oil when you change it. If there are shiny particles in the old oil, it is most likely bearings that were eating themselves. Get that all flushed out and the old bearing "dust" won't continue to eat the bearing surfaces.
 
Just be aware that, even though we tell them not to, a lot of the paintball guys hook these up to bulk bottles and that just eats them up. These are NOT continuous duty machines ... one scuba tank at a time.

You can usually tell if they ran it on bulk bottles by inspecting the oil when you change it. If there are shiny particles in the old oil, it is most likely bearings that were eating themselves. Get that all flushed out and the old bearing "dust" won't continue to eat the bearing surfaces.

IMHO Nothing whatsoever to do with continuous duty.
This simply happens on these particular Coltri machines because the rod loading on the crankshaft is not balanced and the pressure load on the outboard bearing is greater than its maximum design.


The only factor in not running at high loads for long is that it "appears" have a longer bearing life. While the "advantage" of "pressure up, pressure down" with light short loads filling small cylinders is that the time the bearing and rod spends at maximum load is less than plugging away at high loads for long periods filling large storage tanks.


Two simple questions to ask and to ensure a reply (with any and all compressor vendors) before you buy are:


1. What is the maximum rod loading at say 5000psi of each stage and
2. What is the maximum rated rod loading for the model.


I guess now would be a good time to start asking and Coltri a good model to ask. Iain Middlebrook
 
IMHO Nothing whatsoever to do with continuous duty.
This simply happens on these particular Coltri machines because the rod loading on the crankshaft is not balanced and the pressure load on the outboard bearing is greater than its maximum design.


The only factor in not running at high loads for long is that it "appears" have a longer bearing life. While the "advantage" of "pressure up, pressure down" with light short loads filling small cylinders is that the time the bearing and rod spends at maximum load is less than plugging away at high loads for long periods filling large storage tanks.


Two simple questions to ask and to ensure a reply (with any and all compressor vendors) before you buy are:


1. What is the maximum rod loading at say 5000psi of each stage and
2. What is the maximum rated rod loading for the model.


I guess now would be a good time to start asking and Coltri a good model to ask. Iain Middlebrook

First, What the heck is an outboard bearing?

Second, while you are correct that the aluminum flake in the oil has nothing to do with how it was used, your reasoning is an odd one that I have never even heard of. The Coltri blocks are sold under various names in the US (Nuvair, Money Air, Max-Air, etc.). The 3.5 cfm unit is so poorly manufactured that there is bound to be something rubbing causing metal flake in the oil. The major design flaw is that the 4th stage is located at the 6 o'clock position under the oil. All particles in the oil end up right at the 4th stage.
 
I got my compressor. Changed the oil in the compressor and the Honda engine. No metal at all that I could see. But then again, it only had 8 hours, 45 minutes on it. Date of manufature last year. The thing is just like new,got it for les than half the new price.

One problem I am seeing. Even though the over pressure valve has a sticker that says it was set to 4700 psi, air is blowing out of the valve at 3000. Not a huge deal, but would like to get a full 34 to 3600 fill for my HP tanks.

Can I adjust this thing, even though the manual says not to, or do I need to order a new relief vlave? Otherthan that, all is good. Thanks.
 
Picture of the OPV? Some are adjustable, and lots of things say don't touch, that get touched.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom