I Has Fridge Compressor But No Skillz

[MrCrowley]

I found a great thread on a British Mig welding forum where they discussed what oil to use, pretty much I'll just find the thinnest oil for compressors and use that. The oil that dripped out was very thin as I remember.

Today hopefully I can wire it up, get it going and such.

[john bunsenburner]

Link us to it crowley, sounds like it is useful!

[MrCrowley]

Of the top 3 wires, the yellow/green one on the right goes to nothing. The wire in the middle (blue) goes straight to the starter and the wire on the far left (brown) goes to the thermostat then the starter.

So, POLAND, the yellow/green wire I attach to ground, blue is neutral and brown is positive?

edit:
John,
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/show ... php?t=6692

[POLAND_SPUD]

according to this http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_5/chpt_2/2.html
yes

Of the top 3 wires, the yellow/green one on the right goes to nothing. The wire in the middle (blue) goes straight to the starter and the wire on the far left (brown) goes to the thermostat then the starter

yeah that's what it seems..
well that's not a diagram, is it ?? don't get me wrong but it's damn hard to tell you the right answer if there is so little info provided... you might try to hook it up or post more pics

[MrCrowley]

This is what it looks like, I hooked it up like this and nothing happens when the power is switched on. Not surprising, the fridge was being thrown away for free...

[POLAND_SPUD]

nahh it doesn't have to be broken.. either it is wiring or one the relays might be broken

anyway.. about that thermostat thing... it's something different that what you think it is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostat

there was a thermostat on a fridge - that's why there are two cables.. one of them led to the thermostat and it closed the circuit (starting the fridge comp. ) when a given temperature was reached

the thing that you've marked as 'thermo' is an...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay#Over ... tion_relay



there is a dark blue wire in '03DSC00413.JPG' what is it connected to ?? (uhmm I know it is connected directly to the fridge compressor and that it is meutral but according to that diagram it joins the starting relay with that 'thermo' thingy

[MrCrowley]

HAHAH IT WORKS!

Ah right I see about the thermostat haha, anyway it's the round thing shown in that picture you mentioned.

The dark blue wire connects to the "thermo" thingy, which has a white wire which connects to the LOWER brown wire seen in 0202DSC00411.JPG.

Problem was that I had the UPPER brown wire connected to where it is seen in 0202DSC00411.JPG...which isn't connected to the thermo thingy (note, difference between upper and lower brown wire). In the tight space of the small box I didn't notice that the white wire coming from the thermo thingy was connected to the vacant spot between UPPER wires brown and blue. So all I did was swap the UPPER brown wire to the spot next to the UPPER blue wire (the spot which is vacant in 0202DSC00411.JPG) and it works

edit: picture to explain in simple terms what I just said
Thanks for your patience POLAND

[POLAND_SPUD]

yeah I hope it works the way it should... you can use the two leftmost lower wires to connect a simple on/off switch (preferably with a length of cable as it's usually more comfortable to have the switch close to where you fill the gun)

[MrCrowley]

Tomorrow I'll go get a switch and a compression fitting, sorry POLAND but none of my small diameter fittings are like the ones you used, there's no "lip" on my fittings to hold the washers in place and squeeze them together.

High pressure hose will be another problem, can only seem to find plastic hose rated to about 20 bar and I still need to find away to fix it to a fitting. I've been told to go to a hydraulic store to get it done, I know that'd cost me about a hundred bucks haha.

High pressure gauges are also going to set me bac quiet a bit, perhaps I'll find cheap ones online. But yeah I fed the compressor some compressor oil I had and I'll post pics and stuff when it's all done.

Thanks for the help.

[POLAND_SPUD]

ohh you might try polyamide tubing and push-to-connect fittings
http://jumbodesign.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic. ... 976dabfc46


it would be much cheaper and lighter than standard hoses... the only problem is to find a high pressure version of it

you might want to look for gauges for acetylene or other gases too 9for example spares for regulators) some of them are rated high enough and they are much cheaper than comparable 'air' gauges (probably just because high pressure gauges are overpriced just like any other pneumatic equipment)


if you have an old water tap with a part like this
http://jumbodesign.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic. ... 8&start=10
you can adapt it as a compression fitting too... just make sure that the part has BSP/NPT threads (all I've seen had them)

[MrCrowley]

I can buy push-to-connect fittings but I'm pretty sure their rating is about 200PSI. Think I'll find a hose from a SCUBA setup on an auction site for cheap, same with the gauge (thanks for the ideas) and then look at getting the hose connected professional to some fittings which I'll attach to the pump by use of a compression fitting.

Only had 1 tap and it didn't have BSP/NPT threads so it's no use. Compression fittings are cheap-ish and not too hard to find so I'll just use one of them.

edit:

Found a few suppliers locally who can help me out with my needs, just hope that they sell in reasonable quantities.

[POLAND_SPUD]

if you ever find those push-to-connect fightings rated high buy them... they are really really great... AFAIK something similar is used on paintball guns and is known as 'macro' or 'micro line'


I added a simple diagram... it shows where you can put an on/off switch and how to power a fan (assuming you want to add it)

you can get some fans similar to the ones used on CPUs but they run on AC 220V.... of course a fan is not required but it is useful if you use the compressor a lot

try to build your setup in a way that would allow you to rebuild it or mod easily... just in case you compressor breaks down or if you want to add more compressors to it...

ohh btw... do you plan to add an air reservoir ??

[john bunsenburner]

@poland spud: For those of us that don't know(aka me) what is the fan good for/ why does that part with the copper wire need the cooling more so than other parts?

[POLAND_SPUD]

lol sorry... I forgot to mention that it shows wiring only... this doesn't mean that the part needs cooling... a fan should be attached in a place where it that would cool the compressor casing most effectively

[john bunsenburner]

Where would this be, also can a fan really cool down the compressor/is there really need to do so?