[Che]

Well, 7 weeks straight of 12 hour days and it's almost home time... pheww! I'm going to treat myself to a new toy - my first air compressor - but i'm stuck on what features and capacity I need in a unit, and I have no idea what brands to keep an eye out for and which to avoid.

Basically, I don't want an overkill unit, but I want something that can handle all the DIY tasks I expect of it - spray painting, (potentially) running rattle guns, barrel/burr grinders, and air blasting woodwork of fine dust. I won't use it all the time, but i'd expect to pull it out once every month or two when i'm in project mode.


Any tips on what I should go for?

[stockman]

che_guitarra wrote:

Well, 7 weeks straight of 12 hour days and it's almost home time... pheww! I'm going to treat myself to a new toy - my first air compressor - but i'm stuck on what features and capacity I need in a unit, and I have no idea what brands to keep an eye out for and which to avoid.

Basically, I don't want an overkill unit, but I want something that can handle all the DIY tasks I expect of it - spray painting, (potentially) running rattle guns, barrel/burr grinders, and air blasting woodwork of fine dust. I won't use it all the time, but i'd expect to pull it out once every month or two when i'm in project mode.


Any tips on what I should go for?

My advise on air compressors is go for overkill.

http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/C345

[ninjamoses]

Depends on your budget mate, but if I was buying one again I'll be going for a belt drive, multi cylinder low revving jobby.

Your typical cheapy direct drive jobbies (Supercheap etc) are fine for the vast majority of home jobs, but are noisey as all hell and won't have enough grunt for continuous spray painting or heavy rattle gun use (that said I still managed to paint my old SV canopy - its just not ideal/recommended ).

I think pretty much any non-direct drive model would be a great start. Be careful if you start looking at multiple cylinder jobbies - a lot of them require a 15A socket which may or may not be an issue for you.

EDIT: Sooo much want for the one stockman linked to above. Now that is a serious piece of kit.

[fordem]

Get oil lubricated - oilfree units will typically not have enough output (cfm) and have a relatively short service life.

[reeceh]

I'm a chippy and I have a renegade v twin. It's supplied air to a worksite for a year or 2 now. 3 air guns a day. One man to lift it and move around. I painted my car with it. It has fallen out of the back of a ute and had topsoil down one of the cylinders and still works. My friends one exactly the same went through Brisbane floods. Under ten feet of muddy water. He cleaned it all out and still goes today. When I upgrade I'll be getting a belt driven one. I think mine is the standard size tank!

[shep]

I have a peerless compressor, can't remember the model but it was the biggest I could find that will run off 10amp 240v.
I leave it in the weather and besides replacing a capacitor a few years ago has run like a dream for the 8 or so years that I have owned it.

Belt drive is the go

[Che]

As far as budget, i'll spend what I need to - buy nice or buy it twice. But three phase isn't an option just yet - it's gotta be domestic wall power... or petrol maybe(?).

I'll look into Peerless compressors Shep, that might be what the doctor ordered.

[sideways]

Air compressors are like lathes, buy the biggest one you can afford otherwise you'l end up thinking "if I had a bigger air compressor, I could run x tool or do x job.".

[krat]

Belt drive PEERLESS for me as well.
Have had one for about 4yrs without any problems. Prior to that I had 2 Mitre 10 jobs that both stuffed up during home renovation works.
Always go with the better quality brands, the cheap ones are usually crap.

Kev.

[Bugsta]

I bought a Super Cheap $219 kit (including tools) and it does ok for the usual tyre, ratchet and rattle requirements. No way would I try and paint with it or use it for mission critical purposes. Not hard to spend a grand on a compressor, and a grand on tools. If I had the spare cash, I would have.

Agreed on the twin cylinder and belt driven. The quicker it fills, the better it can keep up. This is essential for spray painting and sand blasting.

You only need petrol if you want to be able to use it on a non powered job site, if you lose power, or if you can't get a big enough unit on 10amps. This will add more maintenance though... another engine to look after and feed of course. Would be far more costly to run. Electricity is still a cheap commodity by comparison.

Don't forget to factor in add ons, such as hose reel, tyre inflator (gotta have a decent one), socket sets (a set of short and deep impact), air gun, spray gun, die grinder (very useful). The list can go on and on.

Ok, so the numbers. You need to know the max PSI and CFM of the tools (and then get a unit that can supply more than that), and an adequate tank capacity so the pump is not running constantly.

If you're in no hurry, have a look at Grays Auctions. You can potentially get more than what you need for a great price. Also sales at Trade Tools etc.

Walk into a reputable tool shop, explain what you expect of it, and they will point you to the minimum requirements.