Air Compressor

[Gary Click]

I will be buying an air compressor in the next few days. I lean towards a vertical 80 gallon tank type wit a cast iron pump. Any personal experiences concerning the good, the bad and the ugly?

Right now I lean towards the Sears 80 Gallon model. Does anyone know of sales that are in progress on similar models?

gary

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Gary,
My compressor is dying a slow death. When gone, I'm probably going with a 3 hp 60 gallon cast iron pump that will run on my existing 20A, 240V outlet. I understand that you're looking at 80 gallon which generally means a 30A circuit is required because compressors with 80 gallon tanks usually have 5+ hp motors.

Anyway...if your interested, here are some choices in the 60 gallon class. The prices are about 6 months old...
-Jeff

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/Beff2/AirCompressor-2.jpg

[Ken Whitney]

Gary,

Lowes has the Campbell Hausfeld (shown in the illustration above for $438) at $399.

Pretty good deal.

Ken

[Terry Welty]

Why an 80? Seems like a lot of air to me... I have a 3 horse 60 Campbell Hausfield... works great, I do everything from wood working to painting cars... keeps up just fine, and was under $400 bucks on sale. What are you going to use it for?

[Scott T Smith]

Gary, one of my current compressors is an 80 gallon model (27CFM Campbell Hausfeld), and quite frankly it is overkill for most woodshop use. The only reason that I bought one that large was to supply air for a glass bead blaster and some 3/4" air impacts. Compared with smaller units, the 80 gallon unit takes up a lot of floor space, and is heavy to move.

I also have a 60 gallon compressor, as well as some smaller ones. The 60 gallon takes up much less room than the 80, which equates into more shop space. I've owned compressors by Dayton, Sears, Porter Cable, Campbell Hausfeld, Ingersol Rand, and a few others that I can't even remember.

How much CFM do you require for your use? Most 60 gallon units put out 10 - 15 cfm and are more than adequate for a well equipped shop.

Of the compressors listed by Jeffrey (nice list by the way!), I prefer the Ingersol Rand. If you compare the compressors to the point of getting their technical specs and studying their duty cycles and rated lifespan, usually the IR's are the best. An automatic tank drain is also a very nice thing to install.

[Gary Click]

Thanks for the advise, maybe a 60 Gal would be enough.

I want to use this for a little of everything but the real abuser is Glass Bead and Sand Blasting. I use this for Powder Coat and Lapidary work.

gary

[Von Bickley]

Gary,
I don't know if you are ex-military or not, but my Lowes and HD will give military and veterans 10% off anything..... anytime.
Just show a military or veteran ID.

[Jim Becker]

IR. While the units in the box store garb look very nice, you'll find that the plumbing isn't as impressive and often hard to fix after the fact. I've been totally satisfied with my IR 60 gallon and know that if I ever needed to replace something on it, the job would not be difficult.

[Callan Campbell]

I think the magic words came out of your post, using it also for glass beading or related work. Go with a decent 2 stage unit that has a 60 to 80 gallon tank. 3 or 5hp motor, 220 volt. Many air pumps at that size/spec are the same for either motor, the companies just change the pulley sizes to speed the pumps up and get more air out of them, with a noisy unit, more heat generated and more cost of purchase too in the balance. I totally agree with Jim on checking the layout of the air compressors you're interested in. When it comes to air compressors, the details of the control layout/plumbing really matter as much as the pump internals.
If you only want a single stage unit, look at the speed of the motor on it, probably will be the faster 3400RPM version, not a 1750 RPM motor. This faster motor speed is a way to spin the pumps faster for more output, but generally gives you less pump life, hotter air at the discharge and more noisy from the unit. OK for low or intermittent usage, but sand blasting or glass beading can really use some air depending on nozzle size.
For a more trouble free unit 2 stage unit, you'd like to see some sort of after-cooler[simple coiled tubing that gets airflow across it from the vanes of the air pump pulley to cool the very hot air from the 1st stage before it goes into the 2nd piston and gets compressed aqgain.] Also, don't be too impressed with plastic tubing being use to work the control valve or direct air from the pump into the receiver tank on cheaper store units. Copper tubing with standard flare fittings is still a good sign of design
Way too often on the lower end units, the motor is skimped on to keep the price point low. Whatever you end up with, change the oil and the air filter as needed, and plumb your shop correctly for air usage, also draining your air tank daily if it doesn't have an auto drain unit on it.
Lastly, don't rule out a used commercial 2 stage unit with a single phase motor . Many of these units just need new valves installed or a minor rebuild for the same money or even less than a new store single stage unit. You often get industrial disc valves, not cheaper reed valves, a rated ASME tank, and usually a quieter unit if it's of the older all cast iron design
Can't beat 'old arn'

[Scott T Smith]

Thanks for the advise, maybe a 60 Gal would be enough.

I want to use this for a little of everything but the real abuser is Glass Bead and Sand Blasting. I use this for Powder Coat and Lapidary work.

gary


Check the CFM requirements for your blasters - in your instance and 80 gallon 2/stage compressor may be more appropriate. The other thing is to make sure that you have enough compressor CFM to match up with your needs. As I recall, my bead blaster requres around 20 CFM, hence the size of my compressor.

You can run a blast cabinet with a lower CFM compressor as long as you have plenty of storage. In an old shop of mine, I ganged up multiple 30 gallon tanks in order to make do with small compressors.

When you start getting into this range, my first choice would be the 25 cfm IR - it will run on single phase but as I recall it takes a 40A circuit. My second choice would be the CH model that I have - 27CFM. Here is a link to the IR: http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200318469_200318469

The next one up includes an aftercooler and low oil shutoff.

Here is the CH model:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200365172_200365172

These are both outstanding, "compressor of a lifetime" units that will have adequate volume for just about any blast cabinet and many sand blasters.

[Jeremy Brant]

I burned up a 6 gal PC oiless pancake using it for garage purposes (originally bought for nailers). Most of the work was done around the house, so I decided portability wasn't the current priority and bought a 60 gal upright (2 stage) from Eaton (this one: http://www.eatoncompressor.com/catalog/item/504747/206949.htm). Check their prices on Ebay with MS Cashback if you decide to go this route. Not an inexpensive unit, but built as tough as an IR or Quincy in the same price range and puts out more air. I don't run a blast cabinet off it, but the compressor is rated for continuous duty and will run 19 scfm at 100 psi. It's a true 5hp Baldor motor and thus requires a 40amp breaker for the startup load (running is ~25 amps). It's probably overkill for what I'm ever going to use it for, but it has plenty of reserve air when running die grinders, air ratchets, etc. I plumbed it to a 50' hose reel for now, but at some point need to add some additional drops around the garage.

[Gary Click]

Thanks for the information and advise, this pretty much confirms what I had thought.

gary

[Ben Franz]

+1 on the IR recommendation. I bought a 12-13 year old 60 gallon T-30 series from an estate sale two years ago. Needed to replace a couple of parts on the pump that got damaged in the move (temporary brain lock) and the local IR distributor that sold the unit in the first place was able to look up the serial number and order the replacement parts for me. Don't know if that would be possible with a big box import. Northern Tool used to have pretty good deals on IR - haven't looked lately.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Lastly, don't rule out a used commercial 2 stage unit with a single phase motor . Many of these units just need new valves installed or a minor rebuild for the same money or even less than a new store single stage unit. You often get industrial disc valves, not cheaper reed valves, a rated ASME tank, and usually a quieter unit if it's of the older all cast iron design
Can't beat 'old arn'

+1- I picked up a Quincy off Craigslist a few years ago. Its the quietest thing in my shop. It has a nice 1725 RPM baldor motor and a beefy cast iron pump with an automotive style oil pump and both an unloader valve and an electric shutoff. The unloader waits until it has oil pressure to start pumping, and it also has a valve you can throw to regulate the pressure by unloading the intake valves while keeping the motor running.