> so I'm curious--is this a "just because I had an old vw engine", a
> "because it's different", "because it's cheap" (hard to see that
> one...), or is it actually a better air compressor?
A compressor based on an automotive engine is an idea that has been
around for years. Gordon Smith Company built air compressors that were
based on the entire front end of a Model A Ford -- engine, frame, hood,
radiator, axle -- and they ran on two cylinders and compressed on the
other two. These were built well into the late 1940's.
I became familiar with their trailer-mounted compressors when they were
based on a six-cylinder engine (banging on three, compressing on
three), later superseded by a
model based on a Ford V-8. Now, most compressors of this type use a
screw compressor module coupled to a conventional engine.
I seem to recall an early Sullair air compressor that was based on a VW
engine, and it fired on two and compressed on two. Sullair dropped this
configuration in favor of screw compressors well ahead of the rest of
the industry.
These engine-based compressors were cheap to build, but less efficient
than purpose-built units, and supposedly produced wetter air (bad for
tools).
- Bill
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