First you need to establish you electrical power available 110 vs 220 volts.
If you have 220 v available, do you want (have a potential future use for) a
portable unit or can you live with a larger upright tank unit. I would strongly
suggest a traditional style compressor with separate motor and air pump (these
usually put out more cfm I have two portable Sears 5 hp compressors. A 120
volt, motor/ (oilless) compressor combined unit at home that puts out about 6
cfm at 90 psi (and has an intense noise). The other unit is a 220 volt, with a
separate motor and compressor that puts out about 9.+ cfm at 90 psi. that I have
at my garage workshop. The 9 cfm unit just barely keeps up with my portable
sandblaster or die grinders (IMO: for metal working having a conventional and
right angle die grinder is the cats ass - with carbide burrs works about 10
times faster than a dremel toy) and is OK with a Binks 62 or 2001 spraygun.
One other suggestion is to go with a cast iron compressor body as opposed to an
aluminum one. Both of mine are AL. I have been told that the cast iron units
produce less condensation. Home Depot seems to have good prices on stationary
compressors, starting under $500. I bought both of my Sears compressors thru
the close-out room (found in many sears stores near the hardware/tool areas,
customer return units).
Cheap air tools - as sold by Harbor Freight (and others) are a great value.
Just remember to oil any tool (that rotates) every so often to keep the bearings
lubed and protect the inside of the tool from condensation corrosion.
From: Douglas Frank <frank@zk3.dec.com>
Subject: compressor recommendations, anyone?
Oh frabjous day! It looks like I get to pick out an air
compressor for my birthday this year. Please, list, can I have
some BTDT? Yay!
Mainly, I plan to use it to run tools. I don't suppose there's
much likelihood I'll ever paint with it, but ya never know....
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