Advice for Air Compressor for Shop

[Travis]

Looking for advice on size of air compressor for home shop. 800 square feet to be used to blow dust around and what not.

 

[DaveO]

Your choice is really going to depend a lot on what you want to do with it. If shooting finish nails and brads, inflating tires and other things and using compressed air to dust off stuff then I recommend the PC pancake air compressor and nailer combo kit. I have one and it's light, portable, and relatively cheap.
If you think that you might want to spray finishes, do construction framing with a framing gun or run multiple tools at once then you will need a much larger compressor. Identify your needs and then find a compressor that matches them or exceeds them.
My $.02, Dave

 

[McRabbet]

If your are only going to blow dust around, put your ShopVac hose into the outlet vent and use it! If, on a more serious note, you actually want to use compressed air, then CFM of air produced is the most important factor. Brad, Finish and even Framing Nailers can get along fine on a little pancake compressor that might delivery 3-4 CFM at 90 psi. If you want to get into spraying finishes, you'll need 7-8 CFM at 40-50 psi. And, if you want to use high pressure spray guns or air tools like an impact wrench, then look for 12-15 CFM at 90 psi. Large capacity storage tanks are part of larger units -- consider a 60 gallon upright model with 5-7 HP like this Porter-Cable unit that delivers plenty of air for most applications for less than $500 (but it is out of stock at Amazon right now).

Hope this helps.

Rob

 

[chris99z71]

Also, be aware of the difference between those with oil and those without and the assorted pros and cons to both.
Here's a pretty good, comprehensive article on selecting an air compressor.
http://www.oldhousejournal.com/magazine/2002/jan-feb/pneumatic.shtml

 

[Jonz]

Another issue that may or may not be important to you...some of the pancake compressors are LOUD. I use one, and the space trade-off is the main reason, but that sucker is deafening and I've found that I dread using it because of it.

 

[toolferone]

Oil cooled are quieter. Also look at duty cycle, if you are looking at larger ones you need to now how long they can run out of every hour. 100% is best. The small air cooled ones are considered disposable.

 

[jeff...]

A big one, the bigger the better. I started out with a little pancake compressor and moved up to a 50 gal. As far as noise, once charged a big one does not run as much as a smaller one, under normal use.

 

[DaveD]

All depends on what your price point is. $300, $500, $1000, more?

Whatever you do stay away from the oil less ones that scream like there is no tomorrow.

If you have the space and plan to keep it for 30 years then I'd spend upwards of $800 for a 60 gallon vertical tank, 2 stage compressor that pumps to 175 PSI and has a 220V, probably real 3 to 5HP motor that can supply upwards of 10 CuFT/min at 175 PSI. It will run just about anything you hook to it.

Quieter setups are the ones with separate pumps belt driven from a induction motor. The pumps are running less than 1000 RPM.

Or go to harbor freight and buy a little 15/20 gallon vertical tank compressor that will do 4 cu ft/min at 90 PSI for $150 bucks if all you want to do is use it to blow things off and run small air nailers/brad/staple guns/

Anything with an air motor needs a fair amount of air. Air staplers and nailers can run on small compressors as long as you aren't running in production mode for any great length of time.

Once you get over $1500 or so you get specs that state 10K or 15K hour pump life at 100% continuous run time.

My 20 gallon, 150 PSI setup can't keep up with my air die grinders, needle scaler, etc. very long. It does fine on just about everything else including a conversion HVLP spray gun and my air nailers.

 

[Matt]

Concurring with the comments above, buy as much compressor as you can afford / fit in your available space. You will be amazed how much you use it once you own it (at least I was).