I bought an Iwata Smart-Jet compressor for my Paasche Airbrush. I bought it for several reasons at the time as it is a known quality name-brand, had positive reviews at the time, can hold my airbrush, included a moisture trap, and it knows when to turn the air on/off all on its own. This last option is nice, so you don't have to keep flipping a switch, or fill up a tank every so often.
So after several years of use...probably 4 or maybe even 5, my compressor stops working. I can't figure out why, but I figure trying to get it fixed would be cheaper than buying a new one as its still in good shape. I called tech support and the gentleman gave me a few ideas for the model I was using, but told me that it was probably the pressure switch and they no longer use the part I have on mine. The back up plan that where I could not figure out what was happening or fix it, was to mail back the compressor with $50 and they would fix it with return shipping included. Even that isn't a bad deal for a quarter of the price of it new.
I took the advice first and I hit the pressure switch with a hammer and it would turn on sporadically every time I did that. It was a sign that the switch was broken. I ended up taking it off and opening up the part. A broken copper connector that is used to push a pole into the air-flow gap had broken, probably from lots of use.
In an attempt to get just that part to fix the switch, I emailed the photo to Iwata and a customer service rep actually replied and said they would send me an entire pressure switch free of charge; no worries that the compressor was way past the one-year warranty mark. I never had to send it back and the part usually runs $20 by itself. Now that is service. I will stay with their products if I ever need to actually buy a new one.
Here is a link to the compressor itself... http://www.iwata-medea.com/index.php/products/smart_jet
Broken Switch (copper part inside)
New pressure switch wired in and screwed in.
