air compressor regulator

[stevo wis]

Hi Folks,
I have a mac5200 makita air compressor. It fills the tank to 140 pounds, but turning the regulator up for any amount just bleeds out air and nothing makes it to the output line. I guess its probably the regulator and they only cost about $40, but it looks like a job to get at it, so if anyone has an idea if the problem is the regulator, please chime in.

thanks,
Stevo

[Jim Becker]

A regulator can certainly go bad and leak. Assuming you checked the physical connections for leaks, it should be easy to replace the regulator and they are not all that expensive...you can even get them at the 'borg where most of those in my system came from.

[stevo wis]

Thanks Jim.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Recently at dumpsters, a guy was trashing a little Senco Compressor. Said it wouldn't build up air. Brought it home and upon examination, saw regulator was leaking. Into parts box for a $4.99 HF regulator, and she as good as new. The HF regulator for $4.99 (includes gauge) is a HF gem.

[Pete Staehling]

I know this is an old thread, but it reminded me that I had something potentially useful to share that was related to the topic. The regulator on my CAT 10020C is built into a $40 manifold so when it went bad I figured it was definitely worth taking it apart and having a go at fixing it (I am a cheapskate so I probably would have any way).

Upon taking it apart I found a good bit of corrosion of the cylinder surface, a plastic piston that wasn't smoothly traveling in the cylinder, and a rubber seal ring that was partially out of it's groove. I took all the parts out and cleaned everything up. The cylinder was cleaned up with 600 grit paper and polished with scotch brite. The whole thing was lubed and assembled. It seems to be working fine now.

FWIW, the problem started with a slow leak that I was unable to track down but that caused the compressor to run more often than it should. It gradually got worse until it suddenly got bad enough that there was a fast leak with a sound that could be heard from 10' away.

Any way, if you have a bag regulator that is integral in a manifold that is either expensive or no longer available. You may have a reasonable shot at repairing it even if parts for it are not available. That could be a temporary fix while you order parts or a permanent one. I expect this one to be permanent. These things are not all that complicated and fixes are often pretty simple. Unfortunately they don't often sell parts like the little piston or the funny rubber ring (in some it may just be an o-ring, but in this one it wasn't).