Air compressor

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
My experience is that the nailers they throw in these deals are only good for throwing away. I have a sears compressor that's about 15 years old. It came with a nailer & a stapler. Neither could drive into anything harder than pine consistently.

And depending on what you want from your compressor, that may work fine. But compressors are like lathes. Get the biggest you have room for, and that fits your budget.
 
Personally, I would never buy an oil free compressor. We go through one a year at work with light use.
At home, my twenty four year old craftsmen gets an oil change every year and has never let me down and it has had a hard life.

Joe
 
It really depends on what you want to do with it. Anything that requires a lot of air, won't work well. I would include in the a lot of air class as die grinders, sanders, painting of any kind, save maybe airbrush.
Bigger tanks = longer run time with higher CFM tools. Nailers don't take a lot to air per shot, thats why we see those sales. Almost any other air tool will.
 
IMO on small compressors likt this one the most important measurement is how fast it refills. I have a crappy sears one and it take 10 mins to fill the tank it seems like. lucky I only use it to pump up bike tires and fill my pressure pot. anything more like a air tool would be useless on it do to cycle time
 
Thanks for all of the good advice. I am going to go for something larger since I need something that can be used to winterize water lines as well as in the shop.
 
I have a 60gal Craftsman from years back and love it. Tank is large enough that it doesn't cycle a lot and when it DOES have to kick on it's not nearly as loud as the small (20-30gal) compressors and doesn't need to run as long to fill.
 
I bought one of these compressors pack in 2001 and it is still going. I just took a look at it and the top portion is a little bit different than the one pictured but pretty much the same thing. I used it very heavily until 2009 when I bought a larger compressor and thought about selling the smaller one but I kept it as a backup and still use it daily and it is working fine. It is LOUD and the black hose that goes from the motor to the tank hose heats up a lot during filling but it still works fine. Not sure if the newer versions are as hardy as the older ones...likely not... If you need a lot of air this is not the one you want but for occasional use it may do the trick. If noise is a concern look at the California tools Ultra quiet compressors, I recently bought the 10 Gal one and it is considerably much easier on your ears.
 
I now have a porter cable 6hp, 26 gal, oil, and belt drive. It's on wheels. I've had it for 10 years with nary an issue. I also have porter cable 16 ga finishing nailer, 18ga brad nailer, and a pin nailer. No problems with any of these--all bought separately. I used to have a twin take emglo, prior to the 6hp compressor, that I gave to a contractor friend and he's still using it. I tried some spraying with my 6hp, it worked okay, but I like my Earlex hvlp rig ($289) better for spraying. YMMV

Stan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom