On-Board Air Compressor / Welder for vehicles

When we go to help on a project we usually only take out battery powered or hand tool. We have to leave our pneumatic tools at home, with a on-board air compressor we dont need to leave our pneumatic tools in the shop anymore.

Step 1: To start off - Why do I need a air compressor?

Why do you need a air compressor on your car or truck? There are a few answers.

You can:
1. pump up a tire
2. change a tire(with a impact wrench)
3. inflate you favorite water toy
4. paint a car (with a paint sprayer)
5. put on a roof(with a nail gun)
6. power a spud gun
7. Make: something
8. Because its cool

I could make this list go on for a while. Anything you use your shop air compressor for you can use this on-board air compressor for.

You will probably find a use for it you never thought you could use a air compressor for! I know I did. (supercharged a charcoal grill)

Comments

[bkatt]

Instead of idling up, wouldn't it be better to change the pulley sizes somewhat to doubt the RPM the welding alternator sees?

Also, can the welding alternator and/or air pump be setup to run in reverse? I am considering this modification for my fullsize Caprice wagon. It doesn't have a lot of room left alongside the engine, as I wish to retain my A/C, but I do have space in front of the engine, if the units could be flipped over and spun backwards.

[stevie1]

Dont know if you've recieved an answer to this yet but I figured I'd take a stab at it.

If you rig/rewire your welding alternator the same way he did it then it should work when running in reverse. This is because alternators actually produce AC and then the diode pack rectifies it to DC, so running in reverse would change the phase sequence (the order the coils produce power in as the pulley rotates) but it gets rectified anyway.

The compressor should also work in reverse I believe. The piston(s) would still only move up and down and if the compressor uses one way valves then it would still only supply air out one of the ports. Not sure if it would work the same with a camshaft to open/close valves.

Good luck!
steve

[Kaljakaaleppi]

I like this. I have an old Mercedes which does not have AC. I can stop dreaming about instaling AC to that one (a huge project, btw) and use the slot as a air compressor! Just finished building a stick welder from old microwave transformers, so a car welder would be the next logical project :).

All this, after the WVO-conversion is finished, that is... :/

[bkatt]

Instead of dealing with the oiling situation, couldn't it be easier to get a air pump from a 110V air compressor? Granted you don't have the electric clutch, but I'm sure something else could be fashioned...

[Holder350]

The oil-less 110v compressors are crappy and do not put out much air.

The oiled 110v compressors must be kept upright when running to insure proper lubrication.

Basically an A/C compressor is the best bet over finding an actual OBA compressor.

[mntbkrguy]

Very well explained! I have seen many threads on different offroad forums but yours has much better detail and answers a lot of questions.

[freddyg3753]

is the 30 amp switch grounded or does it have + power from the battery?

[bakermonitor]

So this removes your ac, could it be done with out doing that?

[Bosun Rick]

Do you have any info on using late model Mopar alternators?

[spa31rky]

I have seen this before and also helped a friend do this back in early 80's........works great too

[2 stroke]

i dont even have a air compressor a t home lol but i have a stick welder

[Rahdzhillaxxx]

When  build my  "train hor" I'll certainly keep this  'ible in mind :) 

[rbodell]

Nothing like everything being in reach on the workbench LOL

[abadfart]

nice ill half to try this with my work truck

[towtruckr444]

now on that they have electric solenoids that can idle up an engine when current passes. you may look into that for the air compressor wire or when the alternator senses current flow. they are adjustable too. I'll look into that.

[arriero4x4]

I'm installing a York 210 compressor, and i'll check around for materials to build your welder. Thanks a lot for this instructable. Arriero Chile

[skunkbait]

This is AWESOME! I've got a couple of old work/hunting trucks that need something like this. I think this'll be one of my first spring projects.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Got my vote!

[stephenniall]

I can remember when i finished my 'bike air horn ' i had a short burst compressor on it and i put a 'Push to make ' switch and filled the pipe up with BBS It was pretty funny and ran off a small battery i have

[killerjackalope]

If you're ever looking for a heavier duty compressor setup in vehicle you could always run a direct drive one from a PTO alternatively we used the gearbox on our old iveco to run the crane, a hydraulic motor isn't hard to get a hold of, the downside is the engine needs to be at high revs for lots of power or it'll stall out, however it's a more useful power source than the electrical system if it's heavy usage... Interesting combination of tools though, you'd have pretty much everything covered. For less confident people or those that don't like the idea of putting a welder together you get a unit built for landrovers that might be of use, I've seen the fitted to various jeeps and they're a fully fledged powerful welder... Some more photos would be nice though...

[DeathBlade]

I've seen the premade welder setups before, I'm uncle had a Premier Power welder setup on his jeep, it was hard to pass up but I didn't have $600 to spare so why not build one.

I had a few more pictures but most were out of focus I think there must have been something on the lense that was screwing up the focus.

[killerjackalope]

Ah right, fair does, those welders do come very cheap second hand, it was more a suggestion for people that weren't comfortable with making their own, or for working environments, if other people are using it they can be health and safety issues with homemade machinery, even if it's perfectly safe...