Recommendation for a compressor

[luc gendron]

Well my good old craftman compressor died on me last week. I must admit, for the past 10 years I've abused the heck out of it, from running it constantly for spray painting, to lugging it in the back of my truck and hauling it through mud and snow!
I've been told to go for cast iron pump this time around. One condition, I need my compressor to be 110V. Any thoughts on cast iron head versus aluminum oil less models? Any recommendations on brands...say in the 500$ range. The only one I've seen that meet these conditions is Home Depot's Husky brand 26 gallon with cast iron pump...oh and I want to run HVLP spray gun, so at leat 6cfm at 40psi.

Your comments would be appreciated!

[John Ricci]

The only one I've seen that meet these conditions is Home Depot's Husky brand 26 gallon with cast iron pump

Luc, I have had that very compressor (26 gal. upright w/wheels, 2cyl. cast iron) for about 5 years and I beat the crap out of it daily with air tools, painting etc. and it refuses to falter. It says "100% duty cycle" and it keeps proving it. I am however running it on 240v since I have that capacity in my shop and it seems to start much easier in colder weather (before I had heat in the shop) than it did on 120v. It would not be an unwise buy IMHO. My .02Cdn.

J.R.

[Jim Becker]

The IR GarageMate (http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_207226_207226) will fit your needs, is incredibly high quality and is ALMOST in your price range...perhaps you can swing a few more bucks (You will need a 20 amp circuit for it as you do for most 120v compressors)

6 cfm (a real 6 cfm) is going to be hard to come by in a portable machine, however...but the GarageMate comes close.

[keith ouellette]

I would stay away from husky. That was my first compressor and it had a leak and some strange motor sounds after only an hour run time. I brought it back and the next one developed a leak real quick and I brought it back for a refund.