Air compressor for hobbyist?

[Elkins45]

My current air compressor is a homemade gizmo one of my uncles assembled from a water pump tank and a refrigerator compressor. It’s fine for airing up tires but not great for much else. I wouldn’t mind being able to run some air tools and maybe spray paint a bit. I don’t need a huge capacity but I want something that is good quality and that is from a company that will be around in a few years if I need parts. I bought one of the airless Campbell Hausfield models from WalMart for my dad about 20 years ago and it’s still running, but boy is it loud when it kicks on.

What’s my best option for $300-400? Edit: a little searching reveals that my memory of paying $279 for a compressor has poisoned my expectations for what is available at this price point. Maybe I should up that to $600-700, although that seems like a lot to spend for something I only use a few times a year.

 

[wpod]

Hobbyist means?

 

[Elkins45]

Hobbyist means?

Inflate a few tires, run an impact wrench, spray wood finish on small projects.

 

[kschachn]

I got a good one on craigslist for $250. It is 240v and the guy didn’t know how to wire up a 240v outlet so he was selling it out of his father in law’s estate. Don’t forget that you need an oil separator and dryer as well especially for paint.

 

[wpod]

11 cfm at 125 PSI.

 

[eljefino]

All 120 volt/ 15 amp compressors have the same output, more or less.

If you don't need it to be portable, get a honkin huge 240V one and spend the rest of the money wiring it up.

 

[DemoFly]

Most paint sprayers are just a few scfm at low pressures between 30-45psi. Impacts are easily ran at 5scfm @ 90psi. You can inflate tires with anything.

I recommend basically any 8-12 gallon hotdog compressor as they all are about 4scfm @ 90psi these days. That's what I have had all these years and it runs everything but it does not run my sander at 100% duty cycle. My sander will outrun the pump but I'm patient since it's just for home projects. And to be honest, an electric sander is better anyway.

There's a lot of misconception about compressor power and tank size. A bigger tank doesn't mean a stronger compressor. The SCFM rating of the compressor is what you should pay the most attention to. The tank size is secondary, as it's just a storage device for storing compressed air for later use. A bigger tank cuts down on the duty cycle of the compressor, so it will run less (and be quieter). There are 20+ gallon air compressor units available with anemic 2.5SCFM compressors which are by far and away less capable than a 4.0SCFM 8 gallon compressor. The 8 gallon will be louder but it can perpetually supply almost double the compressed air.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[samven]

For what you are describing you are better served by an inexpensive compressor on a 10-20 gal tank like this one: https://www.harborfreight.com/air-t...horizontal-shopauto-air-compressor-57328.html. It wont run air tools all day but it will take off 5 lugs at least before it kicks back in and will provide way more air than needed to spray small projects and air up tire. It only has a 10 gal tank so smaller foot print but the 175 lb compressor makes it the equivalent of a larger tank running at a lower pressure.

 

[Big E]

I replaced a noisy as hell Craftsman 25gal oil-less with this about 5 years ago. North Star

Mine is set up as a single stage but otherwise exactly the same. There were a lot of iterations using the exact same Taiwanese compressor unit at the time.

The North Star seemed to have the best fit and finish out of all the ones I looked at.

Way quieter than the oil-less I replaced. 100% duty cycle.

Has been a great home garage compressor. Even sprayed a Jeep body with it.

 

[Lenny5160]

I replaced a noisy as hell Craftsman 25gal oil-less with this about 5 years ago. North Star

Mine is set up as a single stage but otherwise exactly the same. There were a lot of iterations using the exact same Taiwanese compressor unit at the time.

The North Star seemed to have the best fit and finish out of all the ones I looked at.

Way quieter than the oil-less I replaced. 100% duty cycle.

Has been a great home garage compressor. Even sprayed a Jeep body with it.

I have the same compressor that you do; the previous iteration of the linked model. I agree; it's been great. It is/was the same as the 20-gallon Ingersoll-Rand Garage Mate and a Quincy-branded model, but the NorthStar was a good bit cheaper AND has a longer warranty.

I'll get impatient with the small tank if I'm using a die grinder or cutting wheel for an extended period, but the small footprint and portability more than make up for the minor inconvenience.

 

[Elkins45]

For what you are describing you are better served by an inexpensive compressor on a 10-20 gal tank like this one: https://www.harborfreight.com/air-t...horizontal-shopauto-air-compressor-57328.html. It wont run air tools all day but it will take off 5 lugs at least before it kicks back in and will provide way more air than needed to spray small projects and air up tire. It only has a 10 gal tank so smaller foot print but the 175 lb compressor makes it the equivalent of a larger tank running at a lower pressure.

Would you pay $100 extra to get a Porter Cable branded one? Tractor Supply has a 20 gallon horizontal Porter Cable for $409 right now. 1.6HP and 5.3 cfm @90 psi.

Also, is there any difference in durability or reliability between direct drive and belt drive? What about oilless and oil-filled?

 

[Rand]

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[samven]

Would you pay $100 extra to get a Porter Cable branded one? Tractor Supply has a 20 gallon horizontal Porter Cable for $409 right now. 1.6HP and 5.3 cfm @90 psi.

Also, is there any difference in durability or reliability between direct drive and belt drive? What about oilless and oil-filled?

I am not overly impressed with Porter Cable in the last 15 years. They became Black and Decker entry level tools and all manufacturing moved to china but then again so did most manufacturers. They are fine for a home owner. I only pointed out the HF unit because of the small foot print and higher air pressure and HF has improved it upper tier.
The belt drive will have an oiled compressor separate from the motor so if either breaks you only have to replace half the unit and oiled compressors tend to last longer. I have an old 4 hp Craftsman belt drive that is going on its 40th year with no issues and have been through 3 or 4 of the smaller direct drive units of the pancake style in the same time. But the air from the direct drive is a bit cleaner if you are going to use it for spraying or blowing out water lines. If you are only going to have 1 and might need to move it to different areas like in the house for an air nailer or the shop for spray painting or the deck to spray stain, consider the difficulty of moving it. I hate moving the big 4 hp 220v unit which is why I always have a small 6 gal pancake around. And the 6 gal pancake will do everything the big unit does but you dont want to run rotary tools for long like orbital sander and drills or needle scalers with the small one because it just cant keep up but for low scf things like sprayers or intermittent use tools like impact drivers, nailers or air chisels it works fine.

 

[Trav]

Most paint sprayers are just a few scfm at low pressures between 30-45psi. Impacts are easily ran at 5scfm @ 90psi. You can inflate tires with anything.

I recommend basically any 8-12 gallon hotdog compressor as they all are about 4scfm @ 90psi these days. That's what I have had all these years and it runs everything but it does not run my sander at 100% duty cycle. My sander will outrun the pump but I'm patient since it's just for home projects. And to be honest, an electric sander is better anyway.

There's a lot of misconception about compressor power and tank size. A bigger tank doesn't mean a stronger compressor. The SCFM rating of the compressor is what you should pay the most attention to. The tank size is secondary, as it's just a storage device for storing compressed air for later use. A bigger tank cuts down on the duty cycle of the compressor, so it will run less (and be quieter). There are 20+ gallon air compressor units available with anemic 2.5SCFM compressors which are by far and away less capable than a 4.0SCFM 8 gallon compressor. The 8 gallon will be louder but it can perpetually supply almost double the compressed air.

I hope that makes sense.

That depends on the spray gun, a touch up gun uses a few scfm but a full size spray gun can use 12 and more scfm easily eg my Iwata Super Nova with air fed spray hood uses over 21 scfm.

 

[dlundblad]

That depends on the spray gun, a touch up gun uses a few scfm but a full size spray gun can use 12 and more scfm easily eg my Iwata Super Nova with air fed spray hood uses over 21 scfm.

Holy smokes. My 18 cfm compressor couldn’t even run that.

What kind of setup do you have?

 

[samven]

That depends on the spray gun, a touch up gun uses a few scfm but a full size spray gun can use 12 and more scfm easily eg my Iwata Super Nova with air fed spray hood uses over 21 scfm.

Yea but thats only at 30 psi and most only use a gun like this spraying a whole car in a booth, not spaying a kitchen cabnet door or mower deck.

 

[Trav]

Holy smokes. My 18 cfm compressor couldn’t even run that.

What kind of setup do you have?

A 23 CFM Pressure lubed Quincy, I downsized from a 35 cfm now I don't do as much work as I used to and changed my hood from a filtered compressor operated unit to a battery powered Versaflow. If you are painting cars you cant have the compressor dropping out. The breathing hood took a lot of filtration and cfm by itself.

These are small CFM guns 2-4 cfm and would work fine with smaller compressors. These were new when I took pictures just in case. I use a few other guns for primer and epoxy primers which are usually throw away cheap ones that are only good for a few uses. The W400 Bellaria is my favorite clear gun and possibly one of the best clear guns on the market today and the Super Nova gold cap is a full size base coat gun.

These use more 8-16 CFM depending on nozzle.

 

[Trav]

Yea but thats only at 30 psi and most only use a gun like this spraying a whole car in a booth, not spaying a kitchen cabnet door or mower deck.

True enough but some wood finishes require a large nozzle (= more cfm) and when posters say just a little spraying I don't assume it is just a small project or the air tools are just small low CFM stuff.

 

[Chris142]

20 gallon 1.6 HP 135 PSI Oil-lube Vertical Air Compressor

Amazing deals on this 20Gal 135Psi Vertical Air Compressor at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[Eddie]

If possible, get a belt driven compressor. Very quiet and long lived.