Air Compressors

[darkstar]

Im thinking of buying an air compressor, for cleaning engine bits, DIY car stuff, and other general activities.

But, some have advised others before, not to buy the sub 300 dollar ones found at repco and what not, because they dont like to be used for a long time.

What would be a good air compressor to buy, and what kind of specs am i looking for, for some spray work, cleaning, etc.

I dont know much about them, so any info is apprecaited.

if you got any figures, like HP and/or tank sizes, that would be helpful.

Also, is it possible to buy a sand blasting kit for an aircompressor? ive got a few parts that i want to sand blast new, like carcrazy has done, which look sweet as btw.

Also a cost figure, or ball-park figure would be helpful as well :)

Thanks.

[Forg]

Originally posted by darkstar
Also, is it possible to buy a sand blasting kit for an aircompressor? ive got a few parts that i want to sand blast new, like carcrazy has done, which look sweet as btw.
Yeah, some junk-mail arrived in the letter box the other day, and there was a ~$40 sand-blasting kit. I reckon you'd need a reasonable output though; a mate & I went halves in an $800 compressor ~5yrs ago, I think it'll do 17cfm continuously or something like that (pulls ~11A at full current, so I use it on normal mains power); and that will just run a rattle-gun.

[C0V3R]

I've recently finished spraying my car with a 2.5hp, $270 compressor (discounted from $400-500 or something). It can run my gun spaying @ 30psi continuously with no time to catch up. Cant remeber how many cfm it is, but its enough ;). Its only got a 40L bulb but that doesnt seem to matter really.

It has done *alot* of work.

[darkstar]

spray painting doesnt really require much in terms of air compressors so ive been told.

Running things like rattle guns, and grinding/cuting air tools for porting heads and so forth is where the extra demand comes in.

many have said to stear clear from the chinese brands.

what are good brands for air compressors on a budget?

Also, what would you need to look for if buyng an air compressor second hand?

[tandy ass]

I'd like to know where you get the figures that a rattle gun takes so much power because I can continuously use my 200ft/lb (very powerful compared to most) rattle gun on my compressor and it barely uses a 20% duty cycle. I have a 12CFM belt drive compressor with a 50 litre tank.

I have an air ratchet, air hacksaw, 2mm acryclic spray gun, blower and rattle gun. The only thing that can output air faster than the compressor can supply it is the blower.

The type of compressor you should buy should have a large tank over 40 litres and the size of the compressor should not matter much. So long as it's 5CFM or more, with a 50 litre tank you will have no problems with insufficient air. A mate has two of those K-Mart $20 portable 250psi cigarette lighter compressors filling up an old 70 litre LPG tank and they work fine for everything other than painting. They're connected to a car battery which is connected to the mains via a 4 amp charger - They take almost an hour to fill the tank to 150PSI but for what he uses it (rattle gun and a little blower use) this thing is perfectly adequate and cost him all up about $150

The most important part of a compressor is the air regulator - I learned this the hard way when I bought my compressor, I skimped on the quality of the air regulator. When you use a tool, the pressure in the hose drops while the air regulator fills it up again, say you are spraying at 60 PSI, after holding the gun down for 3 seconds the pressure in the hose would be 40-45PSI. Another way to check the regulator is to get a 30 meter hose and an air blower attachment and blow air from 100PSI. Check the pressure drop and after you close the blower see how long it takes the air regulator to fill the hose up again. My old one (about $60) took about 3 seconds to totally fill the hose up, the new one I bought takes about half a second, it's made all air related duties work so much better.

[sssgtr]

Ingersol-Rand=expensive but very good
Fini= very good
ABAC (uk brand)= are good quality AFAIK (what i'm looking ATM).

[Forg]

Originally posted by Bozz
I'd like to know where you get the figures that a rattle gun takes so much power because I can continuously use my 200ft/lb (very powerful compared to most) rattle gun on my compressor and it barely uses a 20% duty cycle. I have a 12CFM belt drive compressor with a 50 litre tank.
I have no idea of the "figures", I'm just working from the experience I had the other day. :)
Now admittedly, it's a "commercial" rattle-gun that I borrowed from the guy at the local workshop, which is possibly expecting a large industrial compressor; but the fact was that while using it for, say, 15s-30s trying to undo the nut at the top of the front struts, the compressor was definitely running out of grunt & was rushing to try & keep up.
The compressor's supposed to do about 17cfm, from memory, and I think the tank may be 80 litres as well (we bought it 5+ years ago, can't remember the specs).

[KIL 510]

I heard harley davidsons make a great air compressor they sure sound like one:D :D

[LJ03L]

And you never see the cops giving them a defect for loud exhuasts!