There have been a lot of interesting ideas and theories discussed lately
regarding the best choice for a air compressor. An air compressor is a very
costly investment for our hobby. Throw in a MIG welder and you can very
easily be staring at $2,000.00 before you even go looking for a restoration
candidate!
After having first owned a oil-less Craftsman 110V upright and now a
conventional oil lubricated Home Depot 110V upright I offer the following...
1. Unless you are made of money, don't buy more than you need.
Ya, a big compressor looks cool but its also BIG.
This is a hobby at which most of us spend precious little time.
If you end up spending 3 hours using your sand
blast cabinet instead of 2 hours, how much is that worth to you
when you consider you could spend the air compressor cost
differential on say a powder coating system from HF? Now you
have two systems and can do a lot more at YOUR convenience.
Remember, you may only use this thing a few hours a month...
2. Oil-less vs. Conventional systems.
Oil-less is LOUD!! No, I mean can't hear yourself think LOUD!!!
Conventional is much quieter.
Oil-less is generally cheaper and runs on 110VAC.
Oil-less wears out faster like the article says..
3. 110VAC vs. 240VAC
110VAC is way cheaper to install but you should still have a
dedicated 20 amp outlet or risk tripping circuit breakers.
220VAC has POWER (if you have room for the beast in your
garage.) ( OH, and money to run the electric.)
3. If you are going to buy a HF blast cabinet, throw away the gun
that comes with it and buy the small orifice gun from TP Tools.
I think the part number is S-25..
The HF unit is going to wear out in 25-30 hours anyway..
It is rated at 4.7-7 CFM and works for about 15 minutes with my
small 6.6 CFM 110VAC conventional compressor. 15 minutes is
enough for me at one time anyway. Why do you think the
refrigerator in the garage has that beer in it??
This is a great list. I don't know what I would have done without it. Just
my thoughts...
Best Regards,
Dave Connitt
'67 TR4A
http://home.fuse.net/davestr4a
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