Home use air compressor / tools

[Soopahfly]

Hi guys

Do people have any recommendations for home air compressors and tools?
I don't want to spend a fortune, until I'm confident I'm going to get use our of it.

Would the same compressor be used for spraying, or is that a different type?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using proboards

[Dorset_Clive]

Apart from spraying, I find my compressor fits in to that "I don't *need* it, but it makes jobs a lot easier" category.

I got mine from Screwfix about ten years ago - it was third off price as it was a discontinued model, but similar spec to this www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/ranger-64-air-compressor or this www.screwfix.com/p/stanley-fcdv4g4scr006-50ltr-air-compressor-240v/33988

I ended up getting a set of tools (zip gun and air wrench) from a trip I did to the USA (lucky the firm were already paying my excess luggage fee!!).

I certainly wouldnt be without it now, but if I were going to buy a replacement I would go for something even bigger, and ideally quieter as there are times when I'm working it hard (e.g. die-grinding a cylinder head) when it runs out of puff, and also for more than occasional use you need to wear ear defenders as it can get noisy too.

[Soopahfly]

Cheers!

[reliantreviver]

Buy the biggest you can afford.

Air tools are wonderful things and I'm not sure how I'd live without. Ratchets, impact wrench, die grinders, DA sander, belt sander, cut off saw, chisel, heck I even made up a tool to explode stuck calipers! Point is, air tools are very cheap compared to their electric counter parts.

I shopped around a lot and ended up getting my compressor from a company called defendapack, but they don't seem to be listing the full Clarke range on the website anymore.

www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/search/filter/professionalindustrial-air-compressors-elect/order/price-desc/type/any/module/shopcategory/page/1

Look to spend upwards on £500 on one of the above and you won't go far wrong. Sounds like a lot, but don't be fooled by thinking a cheap-o "3hp" compressor for a couple of hundred will suffice. They are usually alloy construction and don't last long if used frequently as the heads can warp.

Even with the 200L 4HP 18CFM Clarke I have, I could still use a bit more puff! Runs tools fine, will keep up in continuous use with near enough everything including my cabinet shot blaster but will get hot after a while and start pumping water, so you have to leave it to stand for a hour before carrying on.

If only I had 3 Phase....

[optima21]

I'm at the opposite end of the scale, I'm using a Aldi 25L 2.5hp compressor (about £90 these days) and its fine for most things I use it for, but you I don't use equipment that uses high air consumption. I use a cut off tool, spray guns, grit blaster. I don't use air powered drills, wrenches, sanders etc as the air consumption would be too high to maintain pressure.

for spray painting I use Low Volume Low Pressure spray guns, which use less air than most (and take a little bit more time to apply the paint too)

you can do grit blasting continiously too, but it is slow work, if the air nozzle in the gun is small, that keeps the pressure up, you can buy low consumption ones from anglo scot abrasives

www.angloscotabrasives.co.uk/blast_guns_page.htm



using a £10 temporary greenhouse as a blast cabinet, with the gloves held in place with duck tape



one of my better creations was making an air dryer, which I use when I'm spraying or grit blasting, as one of the bigger issues with smaller compressors is the amount of water in the air when the compressors are running constantly. I normally run this at 70psi for grit blasting

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/158023

[droopsnoot]

I've got a 50l 3hp compressor, and the only thing I wish I'd done was get a bigger one. I was only intending to use it to spray an engine bay after other methods had failed, but then Aldi turned up with their bargain air tools and now I use the die grinder and cut-off tool quite a lot, and it does spend a lot of time running the motor. By the sound of it, though, even if I'd gone for a much bigger one I'd have similar trouble.

For spraying you'll need to get a water filter on the air output, but they're not expensive.

That blast cabinet looks a good idea. I've got a big plastic bag I'm thinking of building a frame for, to do the same kind of thing.

[Stu_B]

I have a tiny Aldi special. It's ok for attaching an airline to blow away dust & debris etc and pumping up tyres. I also have an air cut off tool which is very cool and makes me feel like I'm in an episode of American Hotrod... but the compressor is so gutless it's pretty much useless so as above, buy the biggest one you can.

[kabman]

May 16, 2014 8:15:44 GMT optima21 said:

This is pure genius

I've been trying to think of something free/cheap that could be adapted as a temporary blast cabinet. Off to ebay right now.....

[93fxdl]

May 16, 2014 11:55:17 GMT Stu_B said:

I have a tiny Aldi special. It's ok for attaching an airline to blow away dust & debris etc and pumping up tyres. I also have an air cut off tool which is very cool and makes me feel like I'm in an episode of American Hotrod... but the compressor is so gutless it's pretty much useless so as above, buy the biggest one you can.

Strange, I have the 2.5 hp aldi special and have had no problems with it. It wasent quite man enough to run a da sander constantly, but plumbed in an old gas bottle as an extra tank. Then as its pumping up, start sanding, the cut in point of the controller is a bit low, also the supplied connectors and hoses are restrictive, so replace with quality ones and a lot of your problems will be solved,
As said before, a filter is a good add on as is a pressure regulator, most tools are built to work at 90psi, more pressure will spin them a bit faster but empty the tank quicker
Ttfn Glenn

[pork]

Please look at my online shop for anything compressed air related!

Www.air-technique.co.uk

Follow link to online shop, I only sell ABAC compressors, the best, don't buy cheap eBay stuff, it'll break and you won't get parts for them

[dodgerover]

May 16, 2014 12:58:53 GMT pork said:

Please look at my online shop for anything compressed air related!

Www.air-technique.co.uk

Follow link to online shop, I only sell ABAC compressors, the best, don't buy cheap eBay stuff, it'll break and you won't get parts for them

Slight thread hijack Pork can you get a rebuld kit for ingersoll rand compressors? - have a type 242 model 30 pump thats lacking pumping ability - really slow to run up to pressure - I have googled but everything seems to be in the States.
Thanks

[pork]

May 16, 2014 19:29:02 GMT dodgerover said:

May 16, 2014 12:58:53 GMT pork said:

Please look at my online shop for anything compressed air related!

Www.air-technique.co.uk

Follow link to online shop, I only sell ABAC compressors, the best, don't buy cheap eBay stuff, it'll break and you won't get parts for them

Slight thread hijack Pork can you get a rebuld kit for ingersoll rand compressors? - have a type 242 model 30 pump thats lacking pumping ability - really slow to run up to pressure - I have googled but everything seems to be in the States.
Thanks

Hi. I probably could, but I'd have to ask about,
Rebuild kits run into £100's, !
Could do you a good price on new ABAC

Does it reach top pressure? No slipping off belts, motor ok?
My just be a case of replacing valve plates and gaskets

I'm in hospital with mrs having a baby (taking long time!)

Give my office a call/email, theyigjt be able to sort it out sooner

[dodgerover]

May 16, 2014 20:09:20 GMT pork said:

May 16, 2014 19:29:02 GMT dodgerover said:

Slight thread hijack Pork can you get a rebuld kit for ingersoll rand compressors? - have a type 242 model 30 pump thats lacking pumping ability - really slow to run up to pressure - I have googled but everything seems to be in the States.
Thanks

Hi. I probably could, but I'd have to ask about,
Rebuild kits run into £100's, !
Could do you a good price on new ABAC

Does it reach top pressure? No slipping off belts, motor ok?
My just be a case of replacing valve plates and gaskets

I'm in hospital with mrs having a baby (taking long time!)

Give my office a call/email, theyigjt be able to sort it out sooner

Thanks, now get back to your other half, hope all goes well.

Will give office a call next week, gets up to top pressure just takes a lot longer to run up to pressure than it used to, belts all ok - no slipping - had a new motor a couple of years ago. Will start with valve plates and gaskets then.

[pork]

Will do

We are ABAC distributors, but can get hold of majority of parts, or at least point you in right direction.

[rapidyellow]

oh no! it seems everyone has got a "bigger one" than mine, ah well

I have a tigermaster / clarke? 24 litre compressor, bought it initially to pump up tyres as I had a slow puncture and the local garage machine was nearly always out of order, or a queue, so bought this for the basics and its done well really, I have a cheapo ebay whizz gun, and it "just about" does the job on wheels - its running a coiled air line which is very long, I think a normal rubber airline will pass more air, but the whizz gun is superb for other parts, the air ratchet isnt up to much - more of a nut runner, but due to its chunkyness I like to use it as a normal ratchet too, I have a mini die grinder that I have used a few times, and I use an airbrush to paint car models so its been good for that, talking of painting I bought a cheapy silverline hvlp gravity fed spray gun, I painted two large gates with wood stain but didnt really know how to set it up well, its all stuff to play with!!

[taurus]

I know the best advice is bigger is better, but if like me you're on a budget and space is an issue you may decide to go for a smaller one. So if you do end up looking at the Clarke/Tigermaster/Machine Mart end of the market take a look at the Wolf compressors from www.ukhs.tv/Workshop/Air-Compressors. They are exactly the same machines (except they come with Euro connections - which is what your Aldi kit has anyway) - but significantly cheaper.

I bought their 2.5hp 50 litre one a while back and it's fine for spraying. I don't use high consumption tools as I tend to use electric kit for those sorts of things anyway.

Horses for corses. Bigger is better if you've got the cash and room. But if you decide to go budget end you might as well pay a little for it as possible.

[ejenner]

Love the idea of an extra tank. That is pure genius. I've got two spare full size propane cylinders which were just hanging here when I originally got my industrial unit. They've been sitting here all that time with nothing to do.

Very few tools will run constantly from a small compressor. So with a small compressor you're limited to things like impact wrenches. You can spray individual panels fairly effectively with a small compressor as well. What definitely does not work is sandblasting. Even with my 100 litre compressor I find that will be constantly running after a very short period of time. I've got the Clarke sand pressurised blasting tank for holding the media. It gives you another 20 or 30 litres of air on top and it's a gravity feed system so does not require as much effort to run the blasting gun.

The other thing you can do is to link compressors in series. So in theory you could buy 2 or 3 cheap compressors in an Aldi deal and link them together with fittings to provide one hose with high pressure and lots of air on tap.

[steveo3002]

May 16, 2014 8:15:44 GMT optima21 said:

I'm at the opposite end of the scale, I'm using a Aldi 25L 2.5hp compressor (about £90 these days) and its fine for most things I use it for, but you I don't use equipment that uses high air consumption. I use a cut off tool, spray guns, grit blaster. I don't use air powered drills, wrenches, sanders etc as the air consumption would be too high to maintain pressure.

for spray painting I use Low Volume Low Pressure spray guns, which use less air than most (and take a little bit more time to apply the paint too)

you can do grit blasting continiously too, but it is slow work, if the air nozzle in the gun is small, that keeps the pressure up, you can buy low consumption ones from anglo scot abrasives

www.angloscotabrasives.co.uk/blast_guns_page.htm



using a £10 temporary greenhouse as a blast cabinet, with the gloves held in place with duck tape



one of my better creations was making an air dryer, which I use when I'm spraying or grit blasting, as one of the bigger issues with smaller compressors is the amount of water in the air when the compressors are running constantly. I normally run this at 70psi for grit blasting

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/158023

intresting , i have the aldi beast too, can i ask roughly how long to blast something like that alt case in your pic

[optima21]

it took about 15 minutes, as most of the previous paint had been removed by leaving them in paint thinners for a couple of hours, the blasting was just to key the surface for new paint. when I did a sump for my car that took an hour to do, and a few hours later I had these



thats when I was using a bigger greenhouse as a walk in blast cabinet (and using suitable dust masks and using proper abrasive media, not sand)

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