Toyota Repair: 1993 Camry AC doesnt work, revs drop when AC button pressed, compressor clutch, metal particles

Question
1993 Camry 4-cyl, 4AT, 160K+ miles

As I was driving 2 days ago, I noticed the AC suddenly stopped working.  The next day, I pushed the AC button to turn on the system and noticed the revs drop to about 500 rpm's, and heard the engine struggling to stay at idle.  After about a second, the revs climbed back to normal idle speed and everything was fine, witch the exception of no AC and the AC button light blinking.  

I tried this a couple more times while driving around and the exact same thing happens.  One time it actually killed the engine and I couldn't restart it for about 10 minutes even though I kept cycling the key.

Could my compressor clutch and/or compressor be at fault?

Answer
The clutch or the compressor could be the problem, check the belt, remove the belt and see if the outer pulley of the clutch can be rotated by hand,if not then the compressor is starting to seize, if the pulley that has the grooves for the belt can be rotated then the clutch is not the problem,if that pulley can't be rotated then the bearing in the clutch is seized. I would recommend removing the a/c compressor and then removing the clutch for inspection at the same time the compressor can be inspected, look for any metal particles in the openings where the lines connect, if the compressor is seized and metal particles got into the system some of the other components of the system may also be contaminated it depends on how much metal is in the compressor, if not too bad then it may be only necessary to replace the compressor and the receiver drier unit.