I am having some problems getting my compressor to work with the Joe Woodworker veneer press kit that I purchased a while ago. The kit itself is fine, the problem I believe is the compressor.

So what I do is turn the compressor on and allow it to fill the tank up to 125 lbs, where it turns off automatically. I then turn on the veneer kit, which routes the compressed air through the kit's venturi, creating a vacuum in the veneer bag. As the bag deflates and starts to apply pressure to the (test) object, the pressure in the compressor's tank eventually falls below 90 lbs, at which point the pressure switch turns on with an audible "click". However, for some reason, the motor does not turn on at this point. I have tested with my multimeter and there is voltage on the motor terminals of the pressure switch. So I thought maybe the thermal cut out in the motor was preventing it from turning on, it's an older 1/3 hp motor and is "thermally protected".

However, I conducted another simple test where I disconnected the veneer kit from the compressor and instead attached a simple nozzle to the end, the kind used for blowing air. Then I turned on the compressor, and it filled up to 125 lbs where the pressure switch turned it off as expected. I then used the nozzle to release pressure in the tank, and when it hit, 90 lbs, sure enough the pressure switch turned on AND the compressor motor started.

I've repeated each of these conditions several times, they are consistent. So I am not sure what is going on here. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Dan