Air compressors

Ok, I?ll start this one...

(This is more for people starting to collect tools for their project.)

1) Belt or direct drive?
2) Vertical or horizontal?
3) 110 or 220 volt?
4) Little tank or big?
5) One, two, or three cylinder?

1) Belt drive because they make less noise than direct drive

2) Depends on your space, it really doesn?t matter.

3) The voltage depends on if you want to wire a 220, two phase plug or not. It is not difficult but? I bought the largest 110 compressor I could find. It is a 5 hp single phase but it did take a 20 amp circuit so I still had to play with the electrical wiring.

4) See #3 three above. Get the biggest tank you find. I can spend a full day driving #40 rivets and the compressor will never click on. Spend 10 minutes with the air drill and it starts chugging away.

5) Mine is a two cylinder and I must admit I didn?t even consider this back when I bought it.

Best thing I did with my compress was to run an air line from the basement, where the -9 is to the garage so I could use it on my cars! In addition, this gave me a reason to buy a bunch more cool air tools like an impact wrench.

Two additional accessories I would highly recommend:
1. Oil reservoir so you don?t have to oil your tools before every use.
2. Universal swivel for the tool end of the air line. This lets the air line drop straight down and makes it easier to hold your air tool.

compressor makes and models?

I have a feeling I?ll be in the market for a new air-compressor fairly soon since my 11 year old, 110 volt, 5 HP, 25 gallon, single-cylinder, single-stage, direct-drive, oil-less, Craftsman compressor makes a whole lot more noise nowadays than it used to?and it was loud to begin with! Do you think its continuous running while I sand blasted many, many motorcycle parts night after night had anything to do with my problem? Can you hear the sarcasm in my, er, typing? I?m convinced now that there is such a thing as duty-cycle times. How do I know? Well, when I melted a hole in the air line hose because it was against the *wrong* part of the compressor--I think that was too long! Anyway, I hope this story of my mistake helps someone in the future.

So with all that said, I?d really like to hear from you all on the particular make and model compressor you are using, how well it?s working for you, and what you would do if you were in the market for another compressor.

Thank you for your time!

-Jim
RV-10 lurker
o=\o

P.S. The good news is the motorcycle is done?and that was the wife?s prerequisite before I started on an RV

Keywords: compressor, compresor, compresser, compreser, air-compressor, air-compresser, tools,

First of all: Don't buy a compressor by hp. Buy it by CFM. You can match a small compressor with a large motor and you haven't gained anything (except for the electric company). Second of all; you don't run a 5 hp motor on 110v. If you look at electrical energy you'll find that it takes about 20 amps (@110v) to run a 1-1.5 hp motor. These "new" 5 hp motors are realistically about 1-1.5 hp. I have a 5 hp (220V) compressor that puts out 18 cfm @ 175#. You won't do that on 110V. Another major thing to consider is single stage or 2-stage . 2-stage compressors cost more but they run at a lower rpm thereby being MUCH quieter and last longer. Don't be fooled by the advertising by hp. And don't even think about the direct drive "oiless" jobs if you value your hearing. My compressor is built by American Compressor and I have been using it pretty steadily for about 14 years. I change the oil once every year and clean the filter once a month.
Mel

Got a Home Depot nearby. Go buy one of those upright Campbell-Hausfeld deals for $400-$500. It'll give you everything you need.

And ditto on the oilless. Next to the day I got married and the day my chidlren were born and the day the wing kit arrived, the day we had a yard sale and I got someone to give me $50 to take the Sears Craftsman oil-less was the happiest day of my life.

I went to Lowes, got their Camp.-Haus. 5hp, 25 gallon oil-lubed variety (essentially the same as the C-H Husky version at Home Depot I believe). It is quiet, works great, only cost $357. If you're not planning on painting, the smaller sizes are fine. True, when I use the die grinder, it comes on pretty quick, but it is quiet, so no biggie. A bigger tank would be good, but only if you've got a lot of room in your shop/garage. I didn't want to use much space. By the way, although I wouldn't paint with this compressor, it handles my priming chores just fine.

good luck.

Steve

What would be a proper sized compressor if you were painting? (not priming)

Mel, Bob, & Steve, thank you for your thoughts!

This is just me thinking, er, typing out loud, but it seems that there are three categories of compressors we're talking about--large, medium, and small.
-Large are the 220 volt, 80 gal, 15 cfm @ 90 psi class compressors, which are acceptable for everything.
-Medium are the 110 volt, 25 gal, 7 cfm @ 90 psi type of compressors, which are good for pretty much everything (including priming with a touch-up gun) except large-scale painting and excessive sandblasting.
-Small are the 110 volt, 2 gal, 2 cfm @ 90 psi type of compressors which are good for brad nailing, inflating tires, and other low volume tools.

I guess my thoughts are that a large class compressor is over-kill unless you are planning to paint the whole plane yourself. The medium class will do everything else just fine (with a couple exceptions), is a slight over-kill for some tasks, but all in all, is a good compromise. The small class will accomplish some low-volume tasks, but leave you wishing for more quite often. Is this an accurate conclusion?

Also, as I can attest to with my old compressor, regardless of the class of compressor, choosing one that is *quiet* is a very important factor.

Thank you for your time!

-Jim
o=\o

Jim--

One other thought on your summary, which sounds good from my limited experience.

If I remember correctly, my 5hp/25 gal can be re-wired to run on 220 if desired. Originally, that was a concern of mine when I bought it.

That said, it has since become a non-issue. Although it says it draws 15A, I've never had trouble using it in my garage with one 20A breaker, even though I'm often using halogen lights or other tools on the same circuit, so I haven't bothered to have the compressor rewired.

Good luck again.

Steve