Air Compressor Advice

[esinger]

I'm thinking about buying a air compressor and was looking at a 2 HP 26 Gallon Craftsman that's selling for $279. I'm looking to do mostly home auto work with it and was wondering if this is a good one to go with for the $$

 

[corsair231]

You need to look at the cfm rating of the tools you will be using and the cfm capabilities of the compressor. If the cfm used is higher than the compressor puts out then the compressor will run all of the time and tool performance will drop off. You will have to stop work and wait for the compressor to catch back up.
The size of the tank is just the reserve of the air. It helps prolong the compressor kicking in but once it does it has to be able to pump more than the tool uses to keep up. Not a real big problem if you are running an air rachet but could be really bad if you were trying to paint a body panel where you need steady airflow.
If it is going to be more than occasional/light use you may want to consider a larger compressor.

 

[esinger]

The compressor I'm looking at is 6.4 SCFM @90 psi and 8.6 SCFM @40 psi. I've been looking around and it seems to be the strongest SCFM/CFM for the bucks. There's another Craftsman that's 33 gallon with the same performance, but I'm thinking it will take longer for it to catch up with heavy tool usage and it's $20 more.

 

[TURBOTWIN2]

Spend the extra $20 and you'll be glad in the long run.

 

[tom h]

I favor the conventional belt-drive, oil filled, cast iron compressors. Very durable, and they seem to have more reserve capacity (ie, more CFM output) relative to the cheaper direct-drive compressors.

 

[esinger]

yeah, I 'mstarting to read more about air compressors and it sounds like the belt drive ones have a lot of pros versus the oilfree ones. Portability really isn't a major thing for me either. The only down side of a belt driven compressor is how much they cost and wiring.

 

[fitz3820]

I have a Craftsman 6 HP 30 gallon oil-free unit. The major drawback is NOISE - it is really loud. I usually wheel it outside of the garage just to keep the noise down.

It works great for impact guns and such but has to work pretty hard to keep up with grinders etc.

If noise doesn't bother you and you are not doing a bunch of grinding/sanding it should work well for you. Check the duty cycle as well, oil-free units are not designed to run constantly.

 

[URSPANKED]

I had the Craftsman 6hp, 60 gallon and it was the oil-less. You're right, it was extremely noisy, although it worked fine. I ended up selling it and bought a 7hp, 80 gallon Porter Cable. I works great.

 

[URSPANKED]

I had the Craftsman 6hp, 60 gallon and it was the oil-less. You're right, it was extremely noisy, although it worked fine. I ended up selling it and bought a 7hp, 80 gallon Porter Cable. It works great.

 

[esinger]

Ingersoll Rand

I've pretty much decided on getting a Ingersoll Rand SS5L5 60 Gallon 5 HP unit. Looks like it can handle anything I can throw at it and will last me forever. This is going into a brand new house with 2 car garage. There's not enough outlets in the garage, so while the electrician can add a 240V for the unit while doing the other 120Vs.

 

[fitz3820]

Make sure you have enough 220 lines to run your welder too.

Put tons of outlets in as well, I wish my garage had more. Also make sure you have enough lighting. Garages need as much light as you can get.

 

[esinger]

I guess the best test would be to power up the garage equipment and if it's done right, the whole neighborhood dims

 

[turbofish38]

I have a Craftsman 20 something gallon 2.6 HP oilless and I dont have a problem running air tools like DA's and spray guns. The only betch I have is that I have to rebuild the compressor every other year and the noise. The damn piston is just a fiber disc. When it is good it doesn't take long but you sure can tell when the piston is gone. Mines a Devillbiss with the Craftsman name and you can buy the rebuild kit online for around $40. The key to using a small compressor like this is to use a 3/8 hose and 3/8 fittings. Most guys make the mistake of using 1/4 fittings on the 3/8 hose which doesn't work to well with anything using a lot of CFM's.