Reed valves for compressor

Seems to me they used to make refrigeration equipment. I worked on a walk-in freezer once, and it seems the compressor was Sunroc. This has been a lot of years ago, so YMMV.

Jim Kovar Vulcan, Mi

I've been very successful making replacement compressor reed valves from feeler gauges. Sandwich them between a couple of sheets of heavy aluminum and machine drill away. It's usually easier and cheaper to buy a cheap set of gauges at Pep Boys than finding shim stock the right thickness.

-- Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love America

I have sucessfully made them out of shim stock ( Feeler guages ) in the past, as a temporary repair, while waiting for parts.

Being without a compressor shuts down our entire shop, this being quite an unfortunate and expensive turn of events........

I simply cant afford to wait for parts.....maybe a judgement call--but I felt it a better financial gamble to risk further damage to the broken compressor rather than to run out in a big hurry and buy a new spare compressor.

I do still have the old valve plate with the homemade reeds should the factory replacement again fail.

You also might try using some blue tempered spring stock. I picked up some from Metals Supermarket last year. They seemed to carry a variety of thicknesses. But if the feeler gages are the right size I would go with them. One shop I was at had an old (50's) compressor, an Atlas-Copco I think, that used reed valves. They had to get a tech in every 6 months to decarbonize the valves on it, messy job, glad they didn't get us to do it :-)

Precisi>

You might also check Bruce Simpsons web site <

Dan

Feeler gauges are often used. If there is a compressor repair place in your area, most of t hem stock a huge selection of all types of reed valves, as most shops handle all manner of beasties. I think I payed $2.5 each for the last set I needed for a very very old deVilbis I was rebuilding for a client.

Gunner

"A vote for Kerry is a de facto vote for bin Laden." Strider

Thank you all for the great ideas. I'll try the feeler gauge/ shimstock method.

T.Alan