My RIX SA-6 Conversion and Setup

[kgault]

Greetings,

I thought I would start a thread to document my progress on converting a RIX SA-6A Gas compressor to Electric and the additional steps I am taking to get it running.

The biggest web resources I used during my conversion process are a couple of threads on ScubaBoard and the yahoo group for compressors.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/co...-systems/266384-electric-motor-rix-sa-6b.html
Compressor_Team : Compressor

The single biggest help has been Eric at RIX who has answered every question that I posed. I cannot thank him enough.

The compressor I purchased was old and needed some upgrades. It had the old white fan, and the single belt pulleys. It did come with a stainless 3rd stage cylinder head along with about half of the parts needed to overhaul the compressor. It had not been run for over 3 years. I ordered the new fan and most of the remaining parts needed to overhaul the compressor.

I wanted to convert the system to use two belt (for some unknown reason :>) so I ordered the compressor pulley from RIX. I will say that the bushing system used to mount this Martin pulley makes it much easier to pull the pulley for maintenance of the heads.

The parts needed from RIX are:
36-B5132 Compressor dual belt sheeve
11-100TL1610 Taperlock bushing
91-A4423-1 Key

I ordered 1 belt from RIX, and another identical belt elsewhere for half the price.
Gates 3VX425 Super HC V-Belt

I ordered a Leeson Motor from Amazon.com (only spot that had them in stock at the time). The model number I selected is based upon its use in a previously documented Gas to Electric conversion.
Leeson Electric Motor 5hp 1ph 230Volt 145T 3450 rpm 7/8" shaft - 120554

I ordered the magnetic starter and switch from:
49SBPB5 Siemens Integral Pushbutton Kit Small Case Starters
WS5-2301P Siemens 5 HP Magnetic Starter NEMA 1 230V Single Phase
www.electricmotorsite.com

And a 145T base plate from The best way to buy industrial controls--low prices, fast shipping and superior service.

To mount the 145T base plate on the gas compressor frame, a machinist fried cut me an adapter plate that matched the base of the base plate. I must say that he overdid it by using a cad/cam system with a bead blasted finish. Once the motor arrived I drilled out holes for the baseplate to give a good allow the pulleys to line up. The bolt holes for the adapter to the 145T base plate end up straddling the mount for the gas motor.

I needed to cut a 6" by 1" section out of the belt guard to provide clearance for the electric motor. The electric motor RIX uses must come with a longer shaft, as this is unnecessary for their electric version of the compressor.

It turns out that a compatible dual belt pulley for the motor is hard to find unless you order a Martin pulley from the same line. After getting the wrong parts the first time, I ordered:
2/3V3.15 VT-1210 SHEAVE Martin
1210 7/8 BUSHING
from https://www.motionindustries.com
The dual belt conversion is not necessary and adds more than $300 to the conversion cost.

I added a L6-30 220V outlet to my garage, and put a 15ft outdoor 10-3 rubber jacketed cord on the compressor. The most time consuming part was dealing with the drywall.

I am planning on making adapter cords to allow the compressor to be plugged into either 3 or 4 prong dryer connections when I travel to rental houses for cave diving.

During assembly, I cleaned up the grease and grime on the frame and compressor as much as possible prior to lubing up a starting the compressor. The first time I turned the compressor on, it ran smoothly, but did not pump gas

The next steps that are in progress are:
overhauling the compressor, and
assembling a trimix mixing stick.

Keith

 

[matt t.]

Looks good. I like the frame as compared to the "blue plate special" version that I have. I hope you enjoy it as much as I like mine! These compressors also require additional moisture removal from the air so you don't rust tanks. I added a combo filter/coalessor, and drain every 10 minutes vs. the recommended interval (25-30min?). A friend of mine only went with the 2 small moisture seperators on the compressor, drained them at the suggested interval, and badly rusted all of his steel tanks. Do a little research (there are some threads on TDS) before you decide to build a stick for tri-mix blending. I considered it, but from what I was reading about the added heat (high head temps) from running helium through these compressors and the accelerated wear on some of the parts, I decided against it. If you do decide to go that way, I'd be curious to see hear your results. BTW, I have a nice clean 8 h.p. honda GX 240 E-start from mine if you know anyone looking .

 

[matt t.]

Here is that RIX continuos tri-mix blending link I was referring to.
The Deco Stop

 

[kgault]

Here is that RIX continuos tri-mix blending link I was referring to.
The Deco Stop

Thanks Matt.

I knew there were going to be some issues, but I had not seen this thread.

most of the my He mixes will be into stage bottles (lower pressures), and I am going to try to lower the temps by improving the cooling between stages.

It should make for an interesting project.

Keith

 

[NAM001]

Look forward for your updates on the progress

 

[maniago]

Thanks Matt.

I knew there were going to be some issues, but I had not seen this thread.

most of the my He mixes will be into stage bottles (lower pressures), and I am going to try to lower the temps by improving the cooling between stages.

It should make for an interesting project.

Keith

Bump for new info. How did this project go and what did you do?

I'm rebuilding an SA-6 from the ground up right now and looking at ways to relieve the 2nd and 3rd stage temps....Thanks for any info!

 

[iamsharky]

I read in the previous comment that someone added a combo filter/coalessor to the rix sa 6 to handle moisture issues. I have the same compressor and unfortunately the person I bought it from put an auto drain on, took the manual drains off the cylinders and now I have moisture problems. Does anyone have pictures or solutions on how to solve this problem? Thanks

 

[Akimbo]

Nicely done. RIX Industries generously donated an SA-6 compressor to the Monterey Bay Veterans' for their Lift to Freedom Project. One of MBV’s very skilled volunteer’s made a replacement for the base plate out of stainless steel and with a hydraulics reservoir. It is installed below deck so there is no need for a protective cage.

Sorry, I don't have any images of the compressor installed on it... yet.

 

[maniago]

I read in the previous comment that someone added a combo filter/coalessor to the rix sa 6 to handle moisture issues. I have the same compressor and unfortunately the person I bought it from put an auto drain on, took the manual drains off the cylinders and now I have moisture problems. Does anyone have pictures or solutions on how to solve this problem? Thanks

You could buy one (lots of cash can solve any problem), or make yourself one. Check out the publications from oxyhacker Airspeed Press Homepage - Books For Serious Divers Required reading IMHO for any non-shop compressor owner....

 

[iain/hsm]

I read in the previous comment that someone added a combo filter/coalessor to the rix sa 6 to handle moisture issues. I have the same compressor and unfortunately the person I bought it from put an auto drain on, took the manual drains off the cylinders and now I have moisture problems. Does anyone have pictures or solutions on how to solve this problem? Thanks

I hope you still have the two little black separator towers?

If so for $30 fit an in line bleeder prior to the auto dump and you will have both auto drains and manual bleed.
This gives you the option of both auto or manual bleed, and with the added benefit of being able to check the auto drains are working correctly.

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Further if want to get rid of the auto dumps another $50 idea is if your running an electric motor on a SA-6 is add in the starter panel a small timer and reset button. Set the pump timer to run for 20 minutes then as you bleed every 20 minutes already in manual mode you simply press the reset button for a further 20 minutes running.

No problems of you forget to manual bleed as the timer once 20 mins is up switches off the pump

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