Damaged MAC700 Compressor...Your Thoughts?

[John Newell]

I ordered a MAC700 compressor from Amazon. Predictably, I guess, the compressor arrived with the plastic shroud for the pump and motor very badly damaged. I took a stab at a duct tape repair, but three of the four attachment points are broken off, so it's a very weak fix. The question I'm mulling over is whether to send it back or keep it, assuming that Amazon or Makita won't send me the part (which I haven't checked, though I think it's unlikely because you have to remove the pressure manifold and its various attached parts to R&R the shroud - I doubt Makita thinks of that as a consumer repair). I think my decision depends mostly on what the shroud is doing. The design of this thing is that the shroud has a cooling fan in front of it and the shroud effectively ducts the forced air over the pump and motor bodies and cooling fins.

If the shroud was intended mostly to keep people from burning themselves on the cylinder head, and the fan was added to make up for the lost air flow, I could probably live with the shroud removed completely.

If the shroud and fan actually make the thing run cooler than it would without the shroud and fan (which seems to be a definite possibility), then I should return the thing (unless they're going to send me a replacement shroud).

Edit: looked up the part and FWIW it's called a "motor cover" on the Makita parts list, which suggests that maybe the engineers thought that hot surface protection was what it was for, rather than making cooling more efficient...who knows. Of course, once they'd covered the pump and motor some forced air ventilation was probably mandatory...but maybe the shroud/cover is really disposable.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether removing the shroud completely is likely to make the thing run hotter and therefore possibly shorten its service life?

[Chuck Wintle]

I would call Makita and let them know. They may just send you a new shroud to replace yourself.

[Tom Henderson2]

Reading the reviews on Amazon, that seems to be a common problem.

If you don't mind a minor hijack, could you tell me how you like the unit other than the breakage?

Any comments on how loud it is compared to other comparable units?

-Tom H.

[John Newell]

I will call Makita and Amazon as well. I'd be surprised if they'll just mail me the part for free, but I am surprised all the time, so maybe? :D It looks like a ~$18 part so with shipping ~$25 or so at a guess. For that much, I'll send it back to Amazon on their nickle and play the lottery again, probably. And that is sort of the answer to the post above - if it has enough capacity for your needs, this is a good little machine. A touch on the heavy side, maybe, but solid, not too bulky. It's wet, so you can't run it on its side or at some crazy angle...not an issue for me. Recovery time is very quick, even on an empty tank. Quietness...it's just above my threshold for hearing protection. I've been running it to break it in (with the tank valve open) while I wander in and out of the shop. You can hear it upstairs, but it's not bad. In the same room, with no tool noise, it's still not bad, but I think protection is still advised.

[Chris Matus]

Great compressor, it is built like a tank and fairly quiet. Amazon ships in the original box without any additional packaging and depending what kind of day UPS is having, damage is possible.

My first MAC700 arrived fine and I like it so much I bought a second which had some minor damage. I contacted Amazon CS via email who promptly shipped out another with a return label and I used the replacement packaging to return the damaged unit. It took me a couple of days to decide to return the damaged unit, (glad i did), and I actually used it until the replacement showed up. Take a few minutes contacting CS, they'll send you a replacement and you wont have to go through the hassle of getting parts.

[John Newell]

Chris, that's probably exactly what I'll do. The thing that's on my mind is that it seems kind of unlikely that the replacement will arrive in any better shape than the first, but it costs me nothing (directly) to try. Indirectly, of course, we all pay...

[Chris Matus]

Yes, there's no way to know for sure that the replacement will be ok. 2 out of the 3 that were shipped to me were fine. Worst case is that you would have to return both of them or repair one with the parts from the other. On the plus side, Amazon shipped the replacement via 2 day delivery, so it had less time to get broken in shipping. Hopefully they will do the same for you.

[John Newell]

Well, here's the resolution. Amazon would have been willing to process a return and ship another compressor, but they couldn't/wouldn't ship me the part. As a third option, they're goingto issue a credit to me instead to cover the shipped cost of a replacement cover, which I'll install myself. This will require removing the pressure regulator, motor switch, etc. from the front of the unit (see pic below) because the cover has to slide on from the front in order to clear the cooling fan, but on the whole it seems like the most productive and least wasteful solution. Kind of an unconventional solution, though...almost qualifies as "thinking outside the box" on their part.

[Chris Matus]

Sounds good, hopefully that will work out John. Keep us posted.

Me, I'm lazy and like to keep my out of pocket flow to a minimum. I would have had them send another compressor.

Hopefully Makita and Amazon will learn at some point that the stock packaging isn't adequate for shipping. You'll like the 700. I helped a neighbor over the weekend frame up some walls for a basement remodel. Kept up fine with my Milwaukee framing nailer, granted I'm not exactly a speed demon with it.

[John Newell]

Thanks, Chris, and good to hear the positive comments on it. Frankly, I didn't rate the chances of the next one arriving intact very high. Makita is packaging this thing for handling by freight companies and delivery to stores where there are lots of people, pallets, lift gates, etc. Shipping something like this UPS, where at least at the far end it will be dealt with by a single person (there is a big "Team Lift" sticker on the box) almost guarantees very rough handling, which the packaging is just not designed to handle.

I ordered the part today and already see the credit from Amazon on my account, so right now thinks look OK. I'll let you know!

[John Newell]

Here's the resolution. As posted, Amazon issued me a credit to cover cost of a replacement cover/shroud. I ordered it from Toolsforless.com which shipped the part prontissimo. I installed it last night. It's a kinda fiddley job - you have to partly disassemble the compressor, though there are different choices about what to disassemble. I unbolted the motor and slid it to the rear, which worked pretty well. FWIW, my hunch is that the compressor actually runs cooler with the cover, and unless you remove the fan completely, it's much safer with the cover installed.