who knows about air compressors??? want to buy one!

[Austin]

i'm thinking of treating myself to an air compressor next week, and not really too sure which one to go for!! never had one before, but dream of it making life easier in the garage for me,

i'll mostly be undoing / doing up nuts and bolts, bit of metal cutting, grinding down welds, using it to apply wax oil, and some automotive spray painting.

anyone know what sort of unit i should go for? oil free? er... not oil free? 50ltr, 100ltr tank? 2hp, 3hp? belt driven, 8cfm or 14cfm!! etc etc, dont really know what would be best for what i would be using it for. thought about spending about £300 to include some tools with it too, but dont want to max out my budget if a cheaper one would do me,

any help would be cool.

cheers

Austin

 

[ICECREAM MAN]

3hp,100lt,14cfm thats what I have and have done full re-paints with it no problem but still slows sometimes with the air grinder hope this helps some

 

[67panel]

air grinder,DA ,take a lot of cfm so buy the biggest cfm you can.

 

[Guest]

oil free if your spraying as well

 

[AxlFoley]

I got the biggest one I could afford, I got it second hand off ebay, 200L single phase badboy.

something like this is ideal

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AIR-COMPRESSOR-150LTR-SPARES-OR-REPAIR_W0QQitemZ180487177618QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Air_Tools_and_Compressors?hash=item2a05dfc592" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

but if you want something new pop to machine mart, explain what you need it for and they will tell you the best one to get.

Good Luck

Mark

 

[T2-Nate]

With air compress. bigger IS better.
I own a Fini Amico, which is a 2HP 50ltr. affair, it just about cuts it for spraying (anything from filler to paint) and using tools.
However air grinders use too much air so i can hardly use it, just to grind down welds, cutting takes too much air.
I have a pistol grip grinder that uses the 3M Roloc discs and this works well.
I also use it for sandblasting but this is only for rust removal or cleaning because it's not powerful enough to remove paint.

If I was about to buy a new one I would def. go for a 2 cylinder belt driven one with 3 HP and 100 ltr. tank
Be sure to have enough room and a grease pit or so because damn they're noisy!

Spent the last 2 days making a sound enclosure for my compressor (had one but was too big) and I silenced it good 8)

From 94 db to 55 db or so...

Not bad. :mrgreen:

 

[AxlFoley]

yeah noise is something to think about, I'm lucky in that mine is at my parents house and is stored in a seperaate shed to the garage, if you live on a modern housing estate in close proximity to your neighbours you may need to build a box to keep th enoise level down.

but as above, big is better.

 

[Austin]

some good points to consider here, cheers guys. The noise part i hadnt even thought about!! i have seen a sip 50L 14cfm uni for sale, but i always thought a 14cfm unit would come with at least a 100ltr tank?

 

[mattp]

3HP, 150L minimum to go for but check AMP's required

As for £300, you'll need to get S/hand and then it may well be fecked

I can remember spending a good chunk of cash on a 10yr underwritten professional comp, bought the largest 1PH they sold and 12yrs on still in A1 condition and will probably last me a lifetime. Can use all tools on it, well worth the cash but it wasn't £300 -come to think of it £300 only covered a few of the tools :lol:

You pays your money dude -spend the cash and look on it as an investment