Redneck air compressor and BBQ pit

[RobertDoubrava]

Here's some stuff I made. First is the air compressor. The compressor itself is off of an old International big truck with air brakes, it has dual pistons. The motor is a 1940's? GE 1/4HP. I took a pic of it running, you can kinda see the blur on the compressor pulley. The tank is an old propane tank, I ain't sure what size but it wasn't easy getting it in the back of my truck by myself. Last one is my BBQ pit. It's made out of 14" dia. pipe, the smoke stack is 2", the support is also 2". The base is an old 10 lug Budd rim from a retired farm truck. Cool stuff right? Most of my welds turned out like crap on the pit, I should've bought new rods but I just used what I had. I'm still grinding on the welds, I might end up killing the harbor freight 4.5" grinder before I'm done.

[TEK]

Heck yes it's cool stuff! Good use of available parts. Run whatcha brung, kinda. Was the tank clean? I have no idea if that could be an issue or not.The barby is cool,and don't stress on the welds-They dont have to be perfect picture beads to do a good job. Thanks for posting that.

[Sandy]

I doubt that the meat on the BBQ cares what the beads look like. I like the concept. I made one small one like that only out of a non OPD propane bottle. The lil woman fell in love with it and gave our big store bought to the kids.

The nice thing about your compressor is that you have your basics in place and you can use it now. If you run into larger motors as time goes on you just keep upgrading!!!

[RobertDoubrava]

Yep, the tank is clean. That would be funny as hell to see flames come out of an impact wrench though!! When my Dad bought the tank(for 10 bucks) it was about 3/4 full, helluva bargain! We hooked it up to my propane cylinder and transfered the gas into there, and then I let it air out for about a month. Yes, I use my cutting torch with oxygen/propane. My Grandpaw has had that propane cylinder since the late 60's too. The compressor works good, but it takes a long time to air up since the motor doesn't have enough torque to turn it very fast. I have a 3/4HP Craftsman Industrial motor I was gonna use but it's shorting out somewhere inside.

Now about the BBQ pit. I started building it around Christmas, I just never got to finish it till last week. All I did was cut the door out and it just sat around, now it's done. It turned out better than I figured it would. I had a couple of those rims off a '69 C50 Chevy from when they swapped over to tubeless tires, now the truck is sitting in a barn. The pipe is 7/16" thick, I used 3/8" plate for the sides, and re-bar for the door and cleanout handles. I used two pieces of solid 1" steel rod welded about 1ft apart to hold the expanded metal up on the inside.The stack is a 2" elbow that comes out the side, then I welded a 1ft section onto it, and there's a piece of angle iron on top, kinda looks like a roof. I also welded my initials above the door handle. Next on the list is gonna be the trailer for the welding machine, this one is gonna be a lot of fun.

[smithboy]

Dang, I thought from the title you had a combo bbq/compressor. Now that would be a whole new forum.

Cool work. I love coming up with good stuff from scrap.

[wizard]

Cool Stuff!

Might it not be possible to post a few more pics of the BBQ? Food is my #1 interest (that we can write about here) and it will soon be the season in the region.

Thanks
Dave

[RobertDoubrava]

Here's a couple of the sides. I tried taking one more of the door and one with the door open where you could see the inside but the sun was in the camera lens, those didn't come out good. I'll try to take some more later on. My Mom's wind-chime thing got in the way so you can't really see the top of the smokestak, sorry about that. I didn't put the handle for the cleanout door on straight, and I didn't cut the door very straight either. I never used a square or a level on this, I kept forgetting 'em.

[RobertDoubrava]

It's already dark, but I pulled out the droplight and took a couple more:

[wizard]

Robert;

Thanks for posting the extra pictures! About the pipe was that scrap or did you pick it up new? I was wondering about the cost.

The other thing is 14" diameter pipe big enough? Obviously you won't be putting a side of beef in there but have you found it to be OK for normal BBQs?

Dave

[RobertDoubrava]

Yeah the pipe was scrap. It was a piece my Dad had laying in the backyard. And yep the pit is good sized, the expanded is 24in long by 12in wide. It shouldn't be to expensive if you buy the pipe from a scrapyard. About two weeks ago I bought an old sheet of 3/8" plate that was kinda bent that had a couple holes cut in it for $10, but then I know the guy so he gave me a deal on it. I'm going back on Friday morning for some angle iron, more expanded metal, and some square tubing and maybe more pipe.

[Rodney N. Garrison]

Robert, You and I think alike! I've done almost the same thing but my compressor was a basket case I brought back to life. You keep goin' on and some day you'll look back on these with fond memories such as I do.
Good Luck RG

[RobertDoubrava]

Yeah, I just got the idea stuck in my head and built it. All I spent on it was $60. The compressor was $50 and the tank was $10, everything else I had. I also replaced that heater hose going from the compressor to the tank with steel pipe, didn't want that thing blowing out under pressure! AND Monday the BBQ pit got used for the first time. First I built up a big fire in it to burn it out, then built a smaller fire and Dad cooked a couple steaks on it and man they were good!

[gimpyrobb]

Hey Robert, I have that same compressor sitting on a shelf in the garage. Is it one off a truck motor? Mine has no bottom on it and I was wondering how you keep it lubricated.

[RobertDoubrava]

Yeah, it came off a late 60's, early 70's International bus with a V8 gas. It had a bracket that the bottom of the compressor bolted to, and the bracket ran down to the front of the engine block and bolted to it. It had a passageway that allowed the oil from the compressor to be re-circulated into the engine, and there was a small line that shot oil back into the compressor through the side that came from the oil pump in the engine.

Anyway, I went and cut a piece of 3/8" plate about the same length/width as the compressor bottom. Then I marked and drilled four holes to bolt the compressor to, and drilled one big hole(5/8" I think) in the middle and tapped it for a pipe plug. Once I bolted everything together and got it sealed, I turned the compressor on it's side to add oil in the bottom. I don't know how much it takes, but if you overfill it oil will come out of the pipe fitting on the side(where the oil pressure line went) while it's running. It finally stopped doing that so I'm guessing the level is right now. I just keep checking the oil level in it, hadn't had any problems. I thought about drilling and tapping a hole in the side so I could see the oil level, but I didn't have time.

[plamauski]

This may be a dumb question, I don't know anything about compressors but how does it know when to fill? Do you have a switch to kill the motor when the tank is pressurized and start it when it's low?

[TxRedneck]

There are switches you buy and install that do that. Theres usually an off and an auto switch. Auto turns it on to refill, off when its full. Does this whenver the pressure drops to a certain level. Turn it off and the compressor wont turn on. ITs the same switch you will find on the compressor you buy from the store.
And for the record it aint a dumb question. The dumb question is....hey why did my tank blow up killing my family instead of holding the pressure till I could shut the compressor off

[jbmprods]

Originally Posted by RobertDoubrava

Here's a couple of the sides. I tried taking one more of the door and one with the door open where you could see the inside but the sun was in the camera lens, those didn't come out good. I'll try to take some more later on. My Mom's wind-chime thing got in the way so you can't really see the top of the smokestak, sorry about that. I didn't put the handle for the cleanout door on straight, and I didn't cut the door very straight either. I never used a square or a level on this, I kept forgetting 'em.

hey Robert i like your bbq, its really cool. what i really like though is that in pic.IMAG0006.jpg i see the big vice buy the grill. Man ida never thought to put one of those there to use to bust the rack of ribs apart.

[mattc]

I am looking for one of those compressor heads to put on my truck so I can have portable air, your saying yours is off an old bus reminds me I have an old motor out of a bus I should go look to see if it has a compressor on it

I like the bbq also, I am planning on building one for a friend of mine this summer but I am planning on making mine out of a old electric water heater, I will post pics when I get started on it

[Sandy]

I like the bbq also, I am planning on building one for a friend of mine this summer but I am planning on making mine out of a old electric water heater, I will post pics when I get started on it

You generally can't really rely on most old water tanks being of much use for anything till you get them opened up and take a look. Could be a total rust bucket or nothing but a caked shell inside and still look pretty good on the outside. One other thought might be the galvy coating.

[smithboy]

Those tanks robert is using are 40 gallon propane tanks out of delivery trucks...How does I know that...well, I actually didn't, till I scored 3 of them this weekend. The ones I have even have the little rectangular valve protectors just like in one of his pictures. Apparently, these things get yanked out when the delivery trucks are scrapped. The guy I got mine from had a dozen or more and said to get the ones he used he had to take many more in addition.

[RobertDoubrava]

Originally Posted by jbmprods

hey Robert i like your bbq, its really cool. what i really like though is that in pic.IMAG0006.jpg i see the big vice buy the grill. Man ida never thought to put one of those there to use to bust the rack of ribs apart.

Glad y'all liked the pictures. Yeah that's my work table there, I don't think anyone has used it to butcher a cow on though. You can see that pipe and flange sitting behind the vise in the first pic of the compressor, I welded a couple of those and they turned out good, I'll have to post a picture of one later. I'm gonna have a new project soon, I just bought a welding bed for $100 from a friend of my Dad's that has a junkyard here. It's in awesome shape, just needs to be repainted and some toolbox doors are rusted. I can't believe I got that good of a deal on it! It has a HD receiver hitch on it with good brake lights and a lot of marker lights around it. I just gotta work out there for awhile to pay it off. Right now it's on a '86? Chevy Silverado-30 dually that's seen better days.

Now about the compressor, I'm going to put a pressure switch on it soon so it shouldn't be a threat to anybody.

[comp]

waitin' to see

[RobertDoubrava]

I might have pics of the bed Saturday, it's got a lot of tool storage boxes on it and has a lot of room to work on. Well here's some pics of the pipe flange. It's been outside in the weather so it got rusty, I used a wire wheel to clean it up. I know the camera sucks...........

[comp]

cool waitin' to see,,,