What compressor should I ask Santa for??

[Jason White]

I want to get an upright compressor on wheels. Will use for general woodworking (brad nailers, pin nailers, etc.) as well as the occasional framing gun and someday an HVLP sprayer.

I've been thinking about asking Santa for this one...

http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/tool_detail.asp?productID=15014

Any suggestions or recommendations? I'm a little short on shop space, and portability is important. Lots of exterior siding and deck-building chores coming up soon. Oh, and it needs to be on wheels. My back isn't what it used to be.

Jason

[Don Abele]

Jason, for nail guns ANY compressor will work. The smaller the tank and the larger the gun (framing nailer), the more often it will cycle on.

I have a 6 gallon Porter Cable pancake compressor (2.6 SCFM at 90 psi) that I use for jobs outside the shop. Even when framing my basement, I never had a problem firing continuously with the framing gun. Of course, you can not hook more than one framer to it at a time, that would exceed it's reserve and refill capability quickly.

For my shop I have a large 60 gallon Ingersoll Rand (11.3 SCFM at 90 psi).

So, what you need to look at, is what other pneumatic tools (like HVLP) are you interested in? Then look what their required CFM is. The Dewalt you linked to has a 5.4 SCFM at 90 psi rating. Any tools you MAY want in the future can no exceed this (and I'd recommend not exceeding about 4.5).

The Dewalt is a really nice compressor and will handle pretty much everything. So long as your everything doesn't include a pneumatic cut-off tool that needs 8 SCFM at 90 psi!

The other thing to consider, as you are, is portability. Those wheels are nice, but will you need to move this up or down stairs? If so, I'd recommend going with a small pancake model for it's extreme portability and getting something larger dedicated to the shop when/if the need for more CFM arises. My pancake goes about 20-25 pounds and while not light, it's easy to move from room to room and up and down stairs easily.

Be well,

Doc

[Jason White]

I have a PC pancake compressor and a small SENCO compressor for the smaller guns.

It's for rapid-fire framing and siding jobs and especially the HVLP sprayer that I want the bigger compressor for. Most of the time, the big compressor will live in the shop.

JW



Jason, for nail guns ANY compressor will work. The smaller the tank and the larger the gun (framing nailer), the more often it will cycle on.

I have a 6 gallon Porter Cable pancake compressor (2.6 SCFM at 90 psi) that I use for jobs outside the shop. Even when framing my basement, I never had a problem firing continuously with the framing gun. Of course, you can not hook more than one framer to it at a time, that would exceed it's reserve and refill capability quickly.

For my shop I have a large 60 gallon Ingersoll Rand (11.3 SCFM at 90 psi).

So, what you need to look at, is what other pneumatic tools (like HVLP) are you interested in? Then look what their required CFM is. The Dewalt you linked to has a 5.4 SCFM at 90 psi rating. Any tools you MAY want in the future can no exceed this (and I'd recommend not exceeding about 4.5).

The Dewalt is a really nice compressor and will handle pretty much everything. So long as your everything doesn't include a pneumatic cut-off tool that needs 8 SCFM at 90 psi!

The other thing to consider, as you are, is portability. Those wheels are nice, but will you need to move this up or down stairs? If so, I'd recommend going with a small pancake model for it's extreme portability and getting something larger dedicated to the shop when/if the need for more CFM arises. My pancake goes about 20-25 pounds and while not light, it's easy to move from room to room and up and down stairs easily.

Be well,

Doc

[Jim Becker]

Ask Santa for an IR GarageMate...great compressor for 120v use (requires dedicated 20amp circuit like all of the good ones do) and top quality.

[Ben Franz]

I second Jim's recommendation for I/R - I bought a 10 year old vertical from an estate sale a few months ago. Managed to break one of the cylinder barrels while moving it (stupid, stupid, stupid...). The local I/R dealer was able to find all replacement parts from the serial number and had them to me in about a week. Try to get that kind of support from other mfgs. My $.02

[Paul Gatti]

What compressor should I ask Santa for??

Well I guess that depends on how good you were this year ;)

I would go for the Ingresoll Rand compressor. I would get either this one

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_207226_207226

or this one

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200339041_200339041

[Bruce Page]

Jason, the IR GarageMate would be a good choice. I bought a horizontal one a couple of years because I didn’t have the room for a big vertical unit but I still wanted a quality compressor. The GarageMate has worked flawlessly.
Here are a couple of pics. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=17659

[Bob Slater]

IR is no doubt a great product. I got great value with a Shulz compressor. Brazillian made, seems of excellent quality. I went overkill with an 80 gallon two stage unit because the price was right and in terms of size I plan on installing a Bead Blast cabinet and other air pig type applications for my metal side of the shop. Bought it direct from Shulz of America.

http://schulzamerica.com/