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?
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