Air Compresser Question.

I Am Really Leaning Towards Getting An Air Compressor And Tank Set-Up. I Just Wanna Be Able To Do Basic Mechanical Stuff With It. I'm Talking About Installing Suspensions, Engine Work Etc. Doesn't Need To Be Big And Bad Top Of The Line. Just Wondering What Are Some Good Specs To Look For?

How Much hp?
How Many Gallons Tank?
I Wanna Hit At Least 150 ft/lbs For Some Of The Stuff I Wanna Do.
Best Places To Shop For, Best Prices?

Just Some General Insight And Peoples Opinions Would Be Nice. Thanks For Any Info You Can Provide.

I have a 12 gallon 3 hp compressor that does fine for what I need it for. It will power an impact wrench, air nailer, paint sprayer and lots of other stuff.

I Think Th Most Use It Would Get Is Changing Tires, We Get Alot Of Flat Tires Do To Driving 100's Of Miles On Gravel Doing The Paper Route But There Would Be Other Things That It Would Be Used For Thanks For The Info Grumpy.

Well maybe a 25 gallon,a bit bigger but will power anything you want it to.

Mike a smaller compressor will do just about anything you want to do. However if you ever intend to run things like die grinders or angle grinders and things like that, you will need one that has a lot of CFM, and one that will recover quickly. I have a two stage compressor with a 60 gallon tank, and I run it dry using air tools like these and it takes a long time to build up the pressure again.

Here is a link to a place called Harbor Freight. You've probably heard of them, but maybe not. I don't know how good some of these compressors are. I have bought stuff from them before that was junk, and then I've also bought stuff from them that was really good and cheap.

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=air+compressor


Jim

Jim's right, if your using air tools you will drain a small tank very quickly, I would get the biggest tank and highest cfm I could afford

Got mine at Sears,does everything I need it to do just fine.

jimhs wrote:

Mike a smaller compressor will do just about anything you want to do. However if you ever intend to run things like die grinders or angle grinders and things like that, you will need one that has a lot of CFM, and one that will recover quickly. I have a two stage compressor with a 60 gallon tank, and I run it dry using air tools like these and it takes a long time to build up the pressure again.

Here is a link to a place called Harbor Freight. You've probably heard of them, but maybe not. I don't know how good some of these compressors are. I have bought stuff from them before that was junk, and then I've also bought stuff from them that was really good and cheap.

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=air+compressor


Jim

Im Going To Check This Out Tomorrow When I Have A Little More Time Thanks Guys For The Info It Does Help.

I do not have much advice but I have had three compressors and have one now. In fact, Mike when I was real poor I made one out of an old lawnmower engine and it worked just fine.

If you can find an old tank then you can make one for little or nothing. The lawnmower engine happened to be a verticle one. Just use a little commen sense. Take out the cam shaft and put a light spring under the intake valve. I used auto body paste or filler to reduce the head down to a lower space. Then put on a pulley wheel on the shaft and use an old electric motor. Find an old pressure switch and you are in business. It works as I done it. You just have to think about it and what you want it to do. After all the piston goes up and down and that is all you need. I do not remember all the details of just how I did it but it sure worked in the 70's. In fact I had two tanks which were rather large and I tied them together. Then I could use a lot of air even with a small compressor.

Thoughts to ponder!

One more thought Mike. Buy a smaller compresser unit and connect it's small tank to other tanks if you can find them then you will have staying power. You know your way around junk yards so look around. You can connect them together with pipe or hoses.

Further thoughts on my home made compressor. I think that I plugged up the exhaust valve hole with the gook. Also in the spark plug hole I installed a check valve. So there; remove the cam shaft and the exhaust valve. Install a light spring under the intake valve. Reduce the area of the head using gook and think about temperature. Put on a pulley of the size your motor can handle and you are in business. How about that?

So what is going on with you air compressor thoughts Mike? Anything to report? Don't forget your long range plans with your well either. I think about that a lot. I think about you heating with wood. I think about you ice spearing also.

Bernie wrote:

So what is going on with you air compressor thoughts Mike? Anything to report? Don't forget your long range plans with your well either. I think about that a lot. I think about you heating with wood. I think about you ice spearing also.

Yep Bernie I Think About Them Same Thoughts Every Day, I Still Have Wood To Cut But It Has Been Raining For The Last 5 Days Not Letting Me Do So Fact Today Right Now Is The First The Sun Has Come Out At All. The WELL Is Still A In The Future Thing Still, We Are Scrapping And Saving The Bucks To Get This Thing Drilled We Hope Next Summer. And You No It Buddy, Though I Can Wait Because I Have Alot Of Things To Do Before The Snow Fly's I Think Of Ice Fishing/Spearing That Opens On My Birthday December 1st I Hope The Water Is Up By Then.As For The Compressor I Am Still Looking Around And I Guessing That I Can Find A Good Used One On A Sale Or Something, Im In No Real Rush For It I Guess Thats A Good Thing.

That little compressor I have does good on changing tires. Sometimes I may have to give it a little time to get the pressure back up if I'm working fast, but it's all I need. I bought a cheap air cut off tool at Harbor Freight for about $10.00 and it would drain my tank in about 3 seconds. Other than that, it powers everything else just fine.

I bought an impact wrench the other day at Harbor Freight for $12.00. I used it to rotate the tires on the car and it worked great. I went in the store to get something else, but just couldn't pass up the $12.00 impact wrench. Now I have two of them. A man can never have too many tools.

Another thought on a used air compressor Mike. If you do find one make sure that you check the bottom of the tank real good by visual and tapping. If someone had it that did not keep the moisture out then the tank will rust out from the inside. It may take a while but the bottom can be almost paper thin. I have seen this.

Bernie wrote:

Another thought on a used air compressor Mike. If you do find one make sure that you check the bottom of the tank real good by visual and tapping. If someone had it that did not keep the moisture out then the tank will rust out from the inside. It may take a while but the bottom can be almost paper thin. I have seen this.

Thanks For The Heads Up Bernie I Will Keep That In Mind For Sure.