[Shop-talk] Quiet air compressor, the recap

[Mark Miller]

I want to thank everyone for their advice as I was snooping for a quiet
compressor that we'll use in our lab at work (for anyone who cares: air
pressure to drive IC die attach adhesive dispenser, PC board solder paste
dispensing,  and in a manual IC wire bonder - usually just one at a time).
Recommendations included:
Use bottled gas (too much of a PITA swapping bottles)
Porter Cable C1010 (louder than I want at 71dB)
Get a loud one and put it far away (everyone likes this idea except the
person at the far away spot....)
Various medical and dental unit recommendations (too pricy)
Big tank hooked to main system, fill as needed (there is no main system,
this is it)
Iwata air brush compressors (too low a max PSI)
Jun-air and Silentaire (pricier than I wanted - most over $500 used, except
for the one sniped out from me on ebay at $255.  Grrr.)
And a few other airbrush models.

I ended up getting a GMC Syclone 1650A for $210.  It's 56 dB, about the same
as a window AC unit, and is fairly invisible in the lab.  When I get around
to it I'm going to move it to our server room which already is fairly
isolated from everyone.  And yes, I'll put it on a separate circuit from the
computers.

Here is their link to a sound comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpxkGIkVig4

The only drawback is that when it unloads the compressor after filling the
tank it blasts out some air and is loud for a bit.  

Thanks again,
Mark Miller