Nomad II Died

Is the silicone oil to lubricate metal to metal contact in the compressor?

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Clearly I'm not the guy to ask, but the silicone oil is to lubricate the pistons. Whether or not the make metal-metal contact or are supposed to touch only at the o-rings I don't know. 

hitech, did you try clicking purchase?

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Yes, I just did it to see if it is still available, and yes, I was able to add it to my cart. I did not go any farther because I already own one, but i was able to add it to my cart and add options. The total in my cart was $535 without the shipping added.

They are usually very good about updating their site when they are sold out. And, if you email them if they are out, they will give you an accurate time as to when they are available.

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Well shut my filthy mouth. I had spent some time poking around their site which is a maze of dead links and circular redirects. I had assumed this, plus everyone else being out of stock, meant they were done. What kind of company would make the "buy now" link lead to something other than a product page after all? After you said this though I too managed to find a way to add one to my cart, by going through their parts section and scrolling through. 

Going back to their website today, it looks like I had simply caught them in the middle of a website update, as the layout has changed and the products are now available and easy to find.  

LOVE my Altaros Booster! Runs off a very sub standard (too little gpm and only 100psi) compressor w/out issue. Been using one for 2 years and it shows no sign of having any issue. Takes a little time to fill - real shop compressor would help that tho- but a flawless design.



John

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See this is what keeps me going back to the Altaros. I'm going to try and buy one, and I'll report back, but I always circle around to the survey: 
Shoebox:
https://syracuseuniversity.ca1.qualtrics.com/results/public/c3lyYWN1c2V1bml2ZXJzaXR5LVVSX2RvakFhc09YblZQRVA1My01YmRlMDUwMzliZTY3ZTAwMGRmN2FhNzI=#/pages/Page_6b57b7ad-d08d-4bd7-bd68-37cfeea3fe9d


Altaros:
https://syracuseuniversity.ca1.qualtrics.com/results/public/c3lyYWN1c2V1bml2ZXJzaXR5LVVSX2RvakFhc09YblZQRVA1My01YmUxY2U2YmE1YTMzNDAwMGQxMjY3OWE=#/pages/Page_9841f4fb-7261-4e8a-98a6-b1131002b29c


The survey obviously has a lot more Shoebox respondents, however you'll note a lot of them have had breakdowns and require rebuilds. It isn't that I'm not a tinkerer, it is that I have to tinker with machines as part of my day-job, so when I come back to my escape of airguns slow is fine but I want it to just freaking work. The other telling thing is in the "comments" section, where the people who own an Altaros all seem reasonably happy with it, while most Shoebox owners seem to prefer the Yong Heng despite the YH's own maintenance, reliability, and rebuild frequency issues. I'm just at the other end of the spectrum where I already own a reasonably powerful shop compressor, and want absolute reliability. 

I'm not saying any of this to insult or undermine or debate with the people recommending the Shoebox to me. Completely the opposite in fact. If I can't get my hands on an Altaros I genuinely think a Shoebox is what I'll go with. I'm simply explaining this because I'm grateful to the people who took time out of their day to give me their best advice in the hope it helps me. I really appreciate it, and I want to make it clear that I read your response and appreciate your response, and I feel I owe you an explanation of why I didn't take it. I hope that makes sense.  

Is the silicone oil to lubricate metal to metal contact in the compressor?

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Clearly I'm not the guy to ask, but the silicone oil is to lubricate the pistons. Whether or not the make metal-metal contact or are supposed to touch only at the o-rings I don't know.

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If it is to lubricate metal to metal contact this will become kind of a problem: silicone oil is NOT for lubricating high load metal to metal contact surfaces such as compressors. Might contact Nomad to ask this question because it's kind of vital for the lifetime of the compressors...

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I'm aware of the issue, which is probably also why at every "purge" (the service you do every 20 fills or so) a bunch of metal comes out the bottom of the compressor along with excess silicone oil. If I had a guess, AV's tech Jordan who appears entirely devoted to dealing with all the issues these compressors are having, is well aware of the problem. But since they're having it manufactured for them in China, and it is almost certainly based on a Chinese design not their own, they are relatively powerless to affect major design changes. Oddly the Shoebox compressors also seem to have their pistons lubricated entirely with silicone oil as well. *shrug* 

There are PTFE thickened silicone greases, however I'm not sure of their suitability in the Nomad. Hill uses a PTFE O-ring on the tip of the final stage of their hand-pump I believe. Again though that is rather different than the particulate in a grease or oil. 

Either way pure silicone oil is what was specified by the manufacturer, and that may simply be because they're expecting something else to fail first. Given the attitudes of the PA/AV employees I've spoken to, I'm far from the first one to show up on their doorstep having had an issue with this machine. 

So far Pyramid Air has actually been really good to me with the return. Aside from just being polite, they provided me with a return label, said I had to make sure EVERYTHING which came with the compressor was shipped back to them (very reasonable), and they received it Wednesday. I've been informed that they've processed the compressor and accepted the return, and now accounting will process the refund in the next 3-7 business days. 

If all that works out, I'd give an A+ to PA for making things right. Sure having your compressor go down is aggravating, but so far they've made right no questions asked. Of course I also don't want to count my chickens......