ExNotes Long Term Product Review: Sears Craftsman Air Compressor

Here at ExhaustNotes.us we take the time to give you real world, long term results in our product tests. Anyone can test a thing for a few months or a year but does that really give you an idea how the product will be working in 5 years? How about 10 years? How about 50 years?

I bought this Sears Craftsman air compressor back in the 1970s. I forget the exact year but I remember it cost a fortune. I think I got it on sale for around 200 dollars and it was the most expensive tool I had ever bought up to that time. It must have cost several week’s wages. It used to have a beige plastic cover over the motor and pump but that oxidized and turned to dust after 20 years or so.

The Sears compressor came complete with a spray gun. It was kind of a rinky-dink gun so I bought a Binks 18. I wanted to be a car painter and to paint cars you had to have a Binks Model 18. The Model 18 was pro-level equipment and I figured that if I had one I could paint like a pro. The 18 also cost a fortune in 1970 money and it weighs a ton. The Sears gun is quite a bit lighter. Weight matters when you’re leaning over a hood or roof trying to hold the hose out of the way and not drip sweat onto the car.

I found out too late that much like camera gear being the least important part of photography, the spray gun is the least important part of painting. I learned surface prep, dust control and a steady hand count for much more. One day I tried the Sears gun just for fun and it laid down a wide, even pattern; it was better than the Binks 18. The damn thing worked great and was easier to clean.

The years had not been kind to the pressure gauges on the Sears compressor.  The old dials lost their clear lenses at some point and the faces rusted and turned black. It was sacrilege but I replaced them with a set from Harbor Freight. The old gauges had a cool Sears logo on them but time waits for no manifold.

I rewired the original 40-year-old compressor motor to run off 240 volts rather than 120 volts. It starts better with less droop on my off-grid shed. In the past I tried to run the compressor with a square-wave inverter and it started smoking. It seems to have recovered from that trauma and the motor only gets warm running on my new inverter.

One problem that cropped up several years ago was the easy-start pressure relief valve leaking all the time making the compressor cycle on and off more frequently. I dismantled the valve and cleaned it out. It seems to be okay now with just one quick puff of air escaping when the tank reaches pressure. I’ve set the max pressure to 80 psi just to give the old girl a little rest in her dotage. I don’t need 100 psi for anything and I’m not in a rush to get things done.

When I bought the compressor new I hated the cheap, plastic wheels. I was sure they would not last long and planned to go with some steel, ball-bearing replacements. That never happened because the wheels never broke. This rig has been hauled around boat yards, over gravel and rocks, and loaded into and out of trucks. The thing must have 20 miles on it by now.

I added a water trap and filter to the compressor, the kind with the auto drain valve. That valve saw a lot of use in humid Florida but out west in New Mexico it has yet to dump water. The hose was looking bad after 50 years so I replaced it with a snazzy red one because red is the fastest color.

The quick release air chucks were showing their age so I screwed new ones into place in a strictly prophylactic move. I like to keep my gear in top shape, you know?

The recent service I’ve given the compressor (tighten belt, clean air filter, change oil) should be good for another 10 years at the pace I work now. I give the old Sears compressor high marks, 5 stars even. The Craftsman spray gun is a good piece of gear also; I’ve painted a few cars with it. Too bad Sears no longer sells this model and hasn’t for a long, long time. Is Sears even in business? That’s one of the big problems with an ExhaustNotes.us long term review: by the time we’re done testing the product the product no longer exists nor does the company that sold it. No matter, watch for our big 20-rotary-phone comparo test in a future ExhaustNotes.us.

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