Thread: air compressor

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thanks maxx and denny. I think that i will take him up on it. if nothing else Charlie and I can learn to airbrush with it. and it gives me a excuse to buy new tools to play with

Originally Posted by jyardgirl

thanks maxx and denny. I think that i will take him up on it. if nothing else Charlie and I can learn to airbrush with it. and it gives me a excuse to buy new tools to play with

That is a good deal IMO. No question that a big compressor is one of the nicest tools to have in a garage, but that doesn't mean you can't do just fine with a smaller one. For years I only had a 20 gallon 1.5 HP Sears rollaround compressor, and I painted lots of stuff with it........cars and boats. I even Imroned my 27 foot cruiser with it. Yes, it did run pretty much constantly, but it did the job.

Stuff like sandblasting was the problem........I would have to stop and wait for it to catch up most of the time. We next moved up to two 60 gallon 6 HP ones, and they lasted us for a few years til we wore them out. My present one is one 60 gallon tank with a three cylinder compressor and huge 5 hp motor.......it does just fine.

But right in the middle of painting my Kids T the motor crapped out, so we went to Harbor Freight and bought one of their $ 149 on sale compressors, and it got us through the job, and we used it for the next month until the new motor came in and was installed on our big unit.

Bottom line, you will have lots of jobs you will be able to do sucessfully with the one you are talking about.

Don

thanks Don. That info made my hubby feel better since he is not real keen on me spending all his pocket money. but then what man is

Usually it's us guys who have to hide the receipts from you ladies. Something is very backwards here!!!

No, you made a good deal on the compressor, it'll be fine.

Don

My only suggestion would be to make sure it is wired properly and put an automatic drain on it if it doesn't already have one.

Sounds like a normal, small, oil less compressor..........better than no compressor at all. Probably a lot of us here started with a small one like that. Just a couple more comments. Given that you'll likely be in constant run mode if you're doing any amount of work you'll be condensing a lot of water in the tank (depending on relative humidity in your area). So be prepared to drain it at least once a day, or more. Then get a water separator assembly, mount it as far from the tank as practical, and then back it up with a desicant filter at the tool end of the hose, especially if you're painting.

Now for the general comment that seems to be needed every time we talk compressors. For the kind of work we do, volume output of a compressor is more important than max air pressure. If you look at the specs on the tools you intend to use (as briefly mentioned above) you'll find most have operating pressures less than 100psi. If you've got some blasting equipment you might find line pressure requirements exceeding 125psi, but not too many "hobbyists" have that kind of equipment. By contrast, the typical spray gun today (if you want to get max transfer of expensive paint) is an HVLP, the HV standing for High Volume. Not high pressure. If you're going to be doing a lot of body work you'll be driving a DA sander quite a bit, could be comparable to cutting the end of hose off and letting the air flow. At the other end, an air ratchet is usually intermittent use, so doesn't tax a compressor near as much. The point is, a two stage compressor that is designed to produce 175psi isn't a bad thing, but you'd be paying for something (higher pressure) that will be of little use. If it becomes a cost/dollar value decision you'd be better trading off the extra cost for a high volume (as an example, Pops and I made that choice and got ~23cfm @ 100psi units) rather than high pressure unit. If you guys are going to be working with air tools in any significant way you'll learn this first hand as some of the rest of us have.