BIG COMPRESSOR PERFORMANCE BOOST | No tripped breakers! 

I like how this guy works but I'm really here for his verbal Masterpiece of the English language

My wife overheard the dialogue while I was watching this video and she said, "See, this is why I don't let you drink bourbon and make RU-vid videos." LOL!

i actually built this same deal with a fleet farm air compressor . 80 gallon 17 cfm stock with 5hp 240volt 1phase . i swapped in a Hitachi 3hp vfd and 3 1/2 Hp 3phase Baldor motor with F insulation for high temp . it uses a 3 wire pressure switch for feed back . CFM jumped up to around 24cfm at 90psi 88HZ , i dont use a unloader , it set to 10 second accelaration time . with no issues . its set to ramp HZ up as pressure drops with the PID function and pressure switch . min hz is set to 45hz . works Great with my sand blast cabinet . and can sand blast none stop with 90psi for long as u like . its all in a inclosure with fans for coooling as well as a liquided cooled cylinder head i made out of Air conditioning exchanger and a block of 6061 aluminum its been slowly upgraded over the years

The hose blowing off, and the compressor running all weekend, while I am on vacation at Dysney land, always haunted me. So I wired a relay, in series to the pressure switch, that turns on the contactor. I power the relay with my ceiling lights, when I come in my shop and turn on the lights, the compressor starts, when I leave my shop, the compressor won't start. Works well. If I don't need the compressor I turn off the pressure switch.

"I mean a mouth is a mouth at 3am am I right?" Lmfao.. your humor cracks me up.

If this takes off, I'm blaming you for the loss of my compressor-mandated smoke breaks.

I never would've thought to overclock my compressor. Nice work.

If this were me, I'd be putting in a PID instruction and controlling to a tank pressure setpoint. WORD TO THE WISE - if you do that, or anything similar that would result in the possibility of the motor running for long amounts of time at slow speed (below 6 to 10 Hz), you may want to upgrade to a fan-cooled motor (i.e. separate fan that runs all the time) to avoid turning the rotor into liquid copper shmoo (tm). Love this shit, keep it up! This Patreon stuff is addictive thanks to you. It's like main-lining hands-on engineering skillz. PHYCK YA!!!

Sweet, gonna have to look into doing this to my old clunker of a compressor.

AvE, this is one of my favorite vids of yours, and it has me looking at VFDs online, and eyeing my compressor with disdain. I haven't gotten my hands good and dirty for a living for a long, long time, but watching your videos makes me remember just how satisfying it was to have fixed a thing, or solved a problem, or made something better. Thanks very much for doing what you do. Thanks for sharing with us your knowledge and experience. Thanks for reminding me that any time spent in the shop, is not time wasted. Have a laugh, learn some things, fix some stuff.

The ugga dugga, dugga duggas, tappy tap tap, etc.

Yep I'm building one of these now. Thanks for the inspiration

Um...adjust your pressure switch and cut down on the wait time. That's what construction guys do. Framers don't wait. Adjust to 100 cut in and 120 cut out on the wheelbarrow compressors. Also if you overspeed those cheap twin compressor heads they'll bust the rods in no time. Also starting under load with no relief after the cycle will grenade the rods too...

This is great other than you just made a $100 compressor into a $2000 compressor.

I’m seeing this 2 years later and this is actually a genius idea and it should be capitalized on for mass production

"Those that can't, HR" Never a truer word said.

Yes! Vector Drive ALL THE THINGS

Man this is genius I would love to have something like this for my smaller compressor! That way when I’m away from the shop tearing down a vehicle to pull an engine, transmission, whatever the case is, I don’t have to wait 30-40-50 seconds for my compressor in-between every other stubborn rusty bolt. I can’t believe no one has figured this out before, but props to you for doing so! Brilliant my friend absolutely brilliant.

AvE we need more of this! I need this set up in my shop. Such a great idea. Seriously, why doesn't anyone do this outside of industry?

Being from the American Deep Deep South, it is very different for me to listen to this guy. This isn't to say anything bad but country folks where I'm from just aren't used to Canadians talking. He definitely knows his stuff. Good idea man! God bless you buddy!

AvE december edition "VFD everything" continues

Some feedback (and it's not acoustic this time): Some of us have taken the autogas tanks from cars, and used them for our air compressor tanks. We subsequently have a bunch of tanks, and a bunch of drivers with puzzled looks on their faces. It would be nice to have some valves so that one tank can get charged up real quick and we can start work, and the rest get brought online gradually as there is surplus air available. Maybe pulse some solenoids to charge them up progressively without dumping the primary air tank too much. Also, start your compressor in the opposite direction each time. That helps with the not needing an unloader valve. That flywheel pulley fan is fucking cosmetic, ignore it.

It would work. But you'll find that better quality compressors for contractors just utilize a higher cut in pressure to reduce the issue. Dewalt has a single phase compressor(D55146) that runs 4 Bostich coil roofing nailers very well. It has a max psi cutout at 200 psi and it cut in pressure is around 160 psi. This is opposed to the old style compressors with a max of 125 psi and a cut in at 80 psi(witch is lower than you would regulate such a tool) Each gun makes 5-10 rapid shots then a very slight pause, less than 10 seconds, to set the next shingle. Each nailer keeps this up for roughly 53.5 to 4 minutes then takes a minute to grab the next pack of shingles and the same process is repeated. This nail gun uses 3.9 cfm at 80 psi with a rate of 100 nails per minute. The big factor is regulating the pressure to the gun, set it to the lowest pressure that will fully seat the nail with the gun set to the middle drive depth setting. Rarely do we ever have to wait for air.

Great idea. I’m an a/c and heating contractor and if you have a shop without 3 phase it’s extremely difficult to find an air compressor that with properly run some of the sheet metal tools and the adhesive spray rig for our liners. This would allow for more readily available power to run much more efficient compressors that could do what we usually rely on really big 3 phase compressors to run.

This is just great. I need this for our pneumatic heat press. No more waiting for it to get up to pressure and no more stupid pressure drops

Ave, don't feel bad...in one of my less bright moments I discovered just how flammable SILICONE lubricant spray is. Did not realize that they were using propane for propellant and, of course, propane is heavier than air. So I lubricated my shredder one day, not realizing that the bucket had accumulated all of that propane for me. Fired it up to spread the lubrication. Poof. Bang. Where are my eyebrows? Arm hair? An instantaneously receding hairline? And by God does burnt hair stink to high heaven! You just can't wash that smell out it seems.

nice work, i use the same concept for hydraulic systems, you take a fixed displacement pump and hook it up with a variable speed control and you have a variable pump..used in a tilt table for concrete wall manufacturing, after the concrete has set the table tilts up and the wall is lifted of the table with overhead crane. used an inclinometer to ramp the flow back as the tilt table rises up, mind you these are telescopic cilinders, so the last rods are small, needs little flow, otherwise it would launch the wall off the table.... anyways nice vids AvE greets from the netherlands.

HEAT!!! most compressors work with the on off design so they can cheap out on compressor cooling. That "down time" is essential to stop excessive heat soaking of the piston/compressor body. You've got a novel idea, just need a compressor that can take it.

This is freaking genius and simple enough that I'm very surprised this isn't a standard practice already.

General Contractor here. usually when the framers or roofers have multiple tools running, they use gas air compressors. (Rol-Air 4090HK17 5.5 HP Honda, 9.3 CFM@90PSI, 9 Gallon Twin Tank ) Three phase isn’t exactly mobile friendly. But the home shop fire can always use a good stoking! 🍻

For framing we just turn tank pressure to 160psi and regulate the pressure down to 90. Compressor kicks on at 120 but the gun only needs 90. With a 4 gallon tank we can run 2 guns non-stop. Seems to work fine the way it is.

OMFG a Mouth is a mouth at 3am. Almost pissed myself. XD

Yes damn good... broke the pressure switch on my 4.5kw kompressor 2weeks ago... that thing is quite a pain in the a$& because of the big 300l tank. It takes a long time to get it down to 7bar (were it will kick in again) but under 8bar the ugga dugga gun has no torque.

I got me one of those fancy compressors which tickle your ear hole vs. shouting in it. But I am picking up what you're saying. It's brilliant!

Mechanical engineer here, stamp official and all that goobalydoop, I could def uses this in exactly they manner you specified. I've worked on utilizing plc and ladder logic to control motor function and there are def game changing possibilities there. Wish I could come work with you for a month. We could create some incredible non-industry standard breakthrough using simple things like autonomous microcontrollers to send packets in order to greatly increase the durability and functionality of classic design.

CFM limit is compressor size by compressor speed. Faster speed equals more compressor wear so your best bet is to go bigger and under drive and use normal max as over drive to reduce wear and increase capacity. My home setup comes on at 140 and off at 175 because it's factory set and I regulate it down to 125 for my use so pressure is always the same.

Us small garage shops can easily overload a breaker by running the compressor at the same time as a grinder for example, would be nice to detect line voltage and avoid starting during voltage drop, also a soft start to eliminate the peak is brilliant. If the air bleeds off slowly (like you forgot and left your compressor on) have the controller put it in hibernate mode, just enough air to detect use. If the motor can not catch up (hose broke) put into hibernate mode or shut it down until reset. When running big air loads I run 2 compressors at the same time, it would be cool to have some synchronization between them with this controller. Even if the controller let my baby super quiet compressor cycle (relay) when there are light loads and kick in the second when rapid pressure drop occurs from larger loads.

I love this idea. I can believe i didn't think of it before. Way more air without tripping the breaker. tapping out morse code to the PLC is a little far out there though. you probably already know, but that hydraulic hose is going to get way too hot. you could also have the PLC run an auto-drain.

I tried to increase my compressor, fire department thinks I Fucked up.

This would be wicked for anybody spraying. Keeping a more constant pressure with a smaller tank is a holy grail for those of us who run either standard guns or HVLP setups off a compressor. Normally this all equalizes out by using a tank that's half the size of your spray booth, but the ability to match compressor speed to demand would give the option of using a smaller tank, and possibly making it moveable for the guys who don't have a dedicated booth, or to use some serious overkill to paint a fence.

Great idea. Not sure how many of us portable grease monkeys and or nail gunner erectors can properly operate/program plc's. Needs to be plug in, turn on, and go.

Why not just adjust the start stop on the old school compressor so that it kicks on at 110 psi instead of 80? You would still acheive a constantly running compressor, and as you said the motor is geared to run under load. If your tool is pulling more cfm than the compressor is putting out, you need a bigger compressor, not just a bigger motor?

'It was enginerded when Christ was a cowboy'

I am a full time framer and lead a small crew, a compressor that didnt wuss out every single time you had guys shear nailing plywood would be outstanding!!

The commentary alone makes this worth watching.

Sounds like a good space saver. instead of the 80 gallon tank to get your air tool capacity you can get the same performance in a smaller package... sometimes all you got is a smaller package... not me, but other guys.

Do all Canadians have three hands and a hockey stick?

Sounds skookum but you know the boys on the roof don't mind the break!

I spent 8yrs as a pneumatic/compressor repair tech. That's a hell of a good idea. It saves motor wear, capacitor wear as it keeps cfm production up (which is the magic ingredient in air tool use) and has lots of conceivable applications. I want in, help us out with more details and less flight of imagination in your "tootali-tage." :)

YES!!! My plasma cutter never seems to have enough air unless I'm using a huge huge huge compressor or only making teeny tiny cuts!! Your a genius buddy!!

What if instead of air signaling, it used rate of change in tank pressure to modulate the motor instead of the usual hysteresis? That way you don't have to worry about accidentally sending it into orbit when you inadvertently send a signal with the wrong tool. Maybe set it up such that it should resist pressure drops faster then so many psi per minute, and when it detects that, it runs constantly to maintain pressure. Hysteresis could still be used for light draw or slow dropping pressure so you don't need to hear it running all the time. For extra credit: Run two asymmetric separate stages off the same belt and valve them so that at lower pressure they run parallel for high volume, but after a certain amperage is reached by the motor, solinoid valves run them in series where the larger acts as a low pressure first stage to the second lower displacement cylinder.

I have a feeling every motor is going to be 3 phase soon at the AvE compound. I give it a week, 2 max!

My experience with air compressors are volume volume volume. You’re on to something with your idea, but I think heat is going to come into effect strongly.

Ok AVE. I am not a college boy but have been in the field for 20 years. HVAC factory service tech. I try to approach issues logically and work smarter. With the prevalence of energy regs and everybody trying to save the planet and what not. The occurrence of vsd s has really come on in the last 10 years. The issues I have seen have been bearing failures on 3 phase motors when retrofitted with vsd. What we (my factory R&D) have figured out is bearings failing due to build up of voltage on the armature and bleeding current through the bearings causing pitting on the races. This happens when running VSD on a non VSD rated motor. Easily overcome by retrofitting a grounding ring on motor that has brushes to allow current to travel to ground with out traveling through bearings. Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work. Really enjoy your videos. More field trips!!

You know you’re a decent teacher when you can use words like ‘chugga-chugga’ and the ‘brapp-brapp’s and us know exactly what you’re trying to explain

Dew claw needs his own sign off... Keep your zap in the wrap?

Greatings from Denmark.. I use Omron MX2 VFD's in my work, and they contain a small PLC that can be programmed to do exactly what you explain I the video.. also they have both digital and alalog inputs. Not the cheapest Drive, but 250$-ish will get you a 2 Kw one phase Drive.

Be honest,you're going to fit one of these on everything now.

This is an awesome idea, working in the auto industry and always waiting for the compressor to charge was a pain in the nuts.

This is why I use a helical screw compressor. I do love using the Vector Drive. The helical screw comp has one anyway, but damned clever to throw a VFD MC on a vane or piston comp. All you are doing is lying to the motor, and it still has no clue whether it is seeing 60Hz or 6500 Hz. I "LOVE IT!!! I also run a dual compressor for painting or finishing guitars. They run alternately into the same reservoir tank to avoid oil blow by, and moisture in the air. Every time it needs air the colder compressor that has had more off time kicks on, so A-B-A-B-A-B ad infinum. This would be fuckin great for monitoring my air needs for the pain booth. Some finishes take a lot of air, as pigment sizes & viscosity ALL change with color, and other properties of the "industrial coating" I are applying. We also run vacuum clamps, and vacuum forming boxes in ovens, for forming usually PVC plastic. Sometimes ABS. It's all cosmetical crap plastic.

Honestly I think you idea for setting it into an "overdrive" mode is the long way around and not particularly intuitive. Since you are already going to be using a pressure transducer and a PLC to control it, the better way would be to tie the VFD speed reference to a PID loop. That way as the pressure decreases the PLC would increase motor speed to keep your pressure up. You could also set it up so it wouldn't need to use the jog function to get the compressor moving. It would just ramp the speed to get it moving. This would work as a soft start to keep the breaker form tripping. It's the in-rush current of the motor that trips breakers, not the fact that the compressor piston is at top/bottom dead center. Ramping the speed on start will take care of that in-rush.

When christ was a cowboy lmfao love his vids

"In hammer we trust" I think you have your next shirt idea right there AvE

This is what I'm talking about! I'm in the framing industry and I can't believe we don't have portable options like what you're talking about!

Totally useful. This is the kind of A-game project that takes our channel up a notch.

Please, please, please, for the love of the beaver in which we thrust. Help ol' Doo-claw get going on his own channel!!! I would donate my own freedom bucks for it too. Well once this other channel i donate to really takes off

Adding a 4-20ma pressure transducer sourced from the 24v on the VFD, you could essentially maintain a new psi set point just using the features on the drive. Add some torque boost in the program and your in like sin. Skip the PLC and use the VFD inputs on TB1. Your vids are awesome after verk w a beer.

Couldn't you watch for the rate of change in pressure in order to kick on overdrive...sure the math is a bit more; but I'd be surprised if the PLC couldn't handle it...you could always trade processing time for memory with a wee bit of the calc-ule-lumus. This would help you maintain a more constant pressure that dynamically tried to keep up with demand.

As a professional software engineer who's had fun dabbling in small systems controllers, I wouldn't suggest doing the "three pulse signal". It would not always be a reliable way to detect it, and you would still need some kind of upper/lower bound switching for turning the motor on and off. Instead what you're looking for is mainly volume at a desired pressure range, and usage varies over time. Instead I would say you should use a ramping of torque based on the rate of pressure change. You would still want a specific lower pressure for it to activate, but if the motor at nominal speed is not increasing the pressure at a minimum rate (or if pressure is still decreasing), you could have it ramp up the motor speed to increase the CFM. You would have a max speed limit, as well as a temperature sensor on the vital components that can override that max speed limit and lower it if things are getting too toasty. BUT to handle sudden high demand, if the pressure drops a certain amount within a given timeframe, you could have the pump preemptively start (maybe if it drops 50% of the desired pressure range, ie. range is 80-120PSI and it drops 20+PSI in under 15 seconds). Under such a sudden heavy demand, it could even start the pump at a higher speed to start providing a higher CFM.

Mine looks like a Frankenstein. Removed the air filter and added a large oil filter. 2x125psi mini shutoff switches(2 for redundancy) after removing the blockly original one that stuck in the on position. The motor is now controlled with a relay that also provides power to the NO air solenoid. And the air solenoid closes after 6 seconds via the SS timer. The top of the oil breather/fill port has been cut and piped to the outside, for in-shed oilfree air quality. Looks like now I need a VFD. ;0) always love your videos.

Ave, I think the compressor is running the wrong way around. This way the cooling fan is sucking and not blowing on the cylinder. And as much as I know, the lubrication mechanism inside is also designed to be running in a specific way. Not hating at all, just saying!

You could control this with an Arduino, a few AC relays, and a bunch of “if” statements. Depending on the rate of pressure drop, and the pressure itself would determine compressor rate. You could also have different modes or set different minimum restart pressures (80, 90, 100, etc)

You have got to tear down an old century Repulsion start induction run motor, the quality is amazing.

Where the hell did you learn all this stuff!! Been watching forever and you are all over the map, one minute you are teaching something super complicated then the next you are making “bust a nut” jokes then you throw in a “i blew my self up with some flammable” 😂😂 keep it up 👍

What a great idea we use the same set up on water pumps on big jobs. I'm going to look in to doing this on my compresor

0-10v pressure transducer would work awesome. I'm sure the vfd has an analog input.

"This was enginerded when Christ was a cowboy" -AvE, 2017

Sweet idea, make compressors like $500 more expensive and job site voltage finicky. Why not a two stage portable compressor? They already exist, turn on at 130psi and off at 175psi regulate to 115psi, problem solved without a VFD that will shit whenever the power is pulled from it, that never happens on a job site. Also gas powered 2 stage with continuous run valve also exist for framers. I would love to VFD my compressor at home to make it quieter under low load but on a jobsite, who cares? For those constant pressure guys, a splash lubricated pump has a minimum speed to keep lubricated. The more I think out it 2 stage + regulator and forget the fancy electronics, unless you got the VFD for free.

This would come in handy for automotive painters, but the possibilities are endless.

Complicated things break down exactly proportional to how complicated they are. Maximum rpm for Compressors are not safely exceeded. So there's that, my 2cents. I've rebuilt all three of my compressors, all bought used. I googled make and model for the rpm and found all three at one time in their previous lives had their shives on motors changed so the compressor was running slower. I changed all that and have excellent performance. Other than that would be a great idea. Thanks for the videos. I see you were in my old stomping ground, Similkameen valley. 👍

It makes sense, but you're over-thinking it... just use PID control to maintain pressure.

l wonder how a mini bike torque converter would work, fast with no load and geared down on the top pressure ?

Why not just have it maintain constant pressure via the variable speed. They already do this on well water systems. If you're trying to maintain 120 psi you could just use different pressures to equate to different frequencies. Example: if the pressure is below 90 psi it runs balls out. After that you could step the speed down as needed to maintain operating pressure. Adding the air signaling would be unnecessary if it's always maintaining the same pressure, unless you're wanting a higher setpoint.

I am a home garage hack and I DYI everything possible from a air nailer & impact wrenches to a plasma cutter for welding and having a setup like you are describing would be a GD God Send! You could set the gezzless thing at whatever operating pressure and for geeet aaabout it! love the concept and it would make my compressor last 10 times longer

Work in commercial truck shop and this would be great for heavy usage tools(tire guns/multiple tool) and especially for airing tires up when pressure drop isn't low enough to trigger compressor

AvE, your spinning that compressor backwards. It should be turning CCW so the blades are blowing the air across the crank case. Always enjoy the videos. Keep em coming man!

Don't they make high flow low capacity compressors that can give you an unlimited dugga dugga dugga?

I'll bet those framers are so glad you're braingineering away their little breaks! :D

I may be the only one that noticed and only because I had one of these compressors when I was young, but the fly wheel/pulley spokes are designed to be cooling fan blades. If you notice they are rotating clockwise in the video but are supposed to rotate counter clockwise. I know that crankshaft rotation does not matter for compression but for cooing it does. I only mention this because I owned one of these compressors with the exact same flywheel/pulley.

Excellent job. Running it faster at lower loads increases piston speed on the compressor motor exponentially increasing wear on the rings so lower life is probable

Fastest way to break your rusty nuts is when your significant other asks "does this make me look fat?" Just say yes.

Compressor? I just met 'er!

Roofers approve this concept !! Build it and we will come

This man is the single most Canadian person I've ever heard.

I think your idea is great! This could help a lot of small crews or new companies that have a few dudes share the same compressor. You are also hilarious and fun to watch.

You mean our framing crew is the only one with a 60 gallon compressor.

This is relevant to my interests.

New to the channel. This cannuck is funny as. Irish luck

I do think the idea has merit . If you run a compressor faster than it is designed to run there are several issues you have to overcome the head is designed to run at a given temp at its rated rpm. If you overspend it you are going to make more heat in the head than the cooling fins are capable of dissipating. Not saying that's the end of the world but you will need to come up with something to mitigate this. Also your charge is going to be hotter which an aftercooler would help with. Just think that in this case the old saying holds true " there's no replacement for displacement ". Bigger compressor would be my suggestion for the long haul but this is not a bad stop gap fix. Keep this kind of stuff coming it inspires creativity and critical thinking and I love it.

I love this application...and very anxious for more refinement. Check the rotation direction on the compressor for cooling efficiency.