Where to get a decent compressor + air tools?
Discussion
Sorry if this is the wrong place for this thread but I'm not really sure where to put it!
I'm after an air compressor for use in the garage at home and on the race car at race meets. The latter use requires it to be reasonably portable so I'm considering one of those vertically orientated ones so I can wheel it around with greater ease. It will also need to be of a reasonable size so I can lift it into the truck to get it to the races, so I'm guessing a 50-100L one will be what I'm after.
Finally, I'd like it to drive air ratchets, impact wrench, saws/drills, tyre inflator and a connection to activate my air jacks on the car (7-8bar required), so I'm guessing 2hp (ish) would be the correct size.
My first question is, am I correct with my estimations as to the size I'll need?
The second, does anyone have any suggestions of where to get one? Ideally at a good price and with tools included? There seem to be a lot on Ebay and various tool sites so the choice is baffling me somewhat! Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
I'm after an air compressor for use in the garage at home and on the race car at race meets. The latter use requires it to be reasonably portable so I'm considering one of those vertically orientated ones so I can wheel it around with greater ease. It will also need to be of a reasonable size so I can lift it into the truck to get it to the races, so I'm guessing a 50-100L one will be what I'm after.
Finally, I'd like it to drive air ratchets, impact wrench, saws/drills, tyre inflator and a connection to activate my air jacks on the car (7-8bar required), so I'm guessing 2hp (ish) would be the correct size.
My first question is, am I correct with my estimations as to the size I'll need?
The second, does anyone have any suggestions of where to get one? Ideally at a good price and with tools included? There seem to be a lot on Ebay and various tool sites so the choice is baffling me somewhat! Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
Machine Mart is pretty good stuff.
Also have a look in Aldi yup i no it sounds silly. Honest they sell some good stuff like this. You just have to get it at the correct time.
My friend got a compressor from there for his garage at home works great. Worth keeping your eye out for as they are cheap as chips
All good stuff just branded different. For eg they do a pressure washer about £50 its a Karcher just with a different name on
Also have a look in Aldi yup i no it sounds silly. Honest they sell some good stuff like this. You just have to get it at the correct time.
My friend got a compressor from there for his garage at home works great. Worth keeping your eye out for as they are cheap as chips
All good stuff just branded different. For eg they do a pressure washer about £50 its a Karcher just with a different name on
theshrew said:
Machine Mart is pretty good stuff.
Also have a look in Aldi yup i no it sounds silly. Honest they sell some good stuff like this. You just have to get it at the correct time.
My friend got a compressor from there for his garage at home works great. Worth keeping your eye out for as they are cheap as chips
All good stuff just branded different. For eg they do a pressure washer about £50 its a Karcher just with a different name on
Like a Golf, or similar??Also have a look in Aldi yup i no it sounds silly. Honest they sell some good stuff like this. You just have to get it at the correct time.
My friend got a compressor from there for his garage at home works great. Worth keeping your eye out for as they are cheap as chips
All good stuff just branded different. For eg they do a pressure washer about £50 its a Karcher just with a different name on
The aldi compressor is nowhere near man enough to run an impact wrench..... I bought one, and about the only thing its useful for is inflating tyres and blowing dust away etc.... You really need something with atleast twice the volume and a bigger motor to make it worth while...
Look at the price of an electric impact wrench etc... might actually work out cheaper...
Look at the price of an electric impact wrench etc... might actually work out cheaper...
tegwin said:
The aldi compressor is nowhere near man enough to run an impact wrench..... I bought one, and about the only thing its useful for is inflating tyres and blowing dust away etc.... You really need something with atleast twice the volume and a bigger motor to make it worth while...
Look at the price of an electric impact wrench etc... might actually work out cheaper...
How big a motor are we talking? I need something to inflate the tyres and run the air jacks as well as a wheel gun etc so a portable compressor would make the most sense I thinkLook at the price of an electric impact wrench etc... might actually work out cheaper...
See what the CFM requirements of the air tools are,the volume of your air jacks etc, and then see what the cfm of the compressors are that you have been eyeballing.Sadly most portable compressors do not have the CFM output or the storage capacity to run much for anything like a useful period.
A team I worked fo used those big 6' thin cylinders, compressed to the required pressure with an on/off valve and the lance attached. Bottle infront of pit garage, valve opened, lance on, BANG. Car up, pressure valve kicks in to prevent jacks grenading, valve closed. Happy days.
No way will a portable comprssor & tank cope.
No way will a portable comprssor & tank cope.
My jacks are quite wide ones and rather than running off 20+ bar like the super quick ones, I've had them up easily on an 8 bar shop airline. So provided a compressor can make 8 bar, it should run them fine... Looking at the price of a gas bottle + high pressure reg + lance comes to about the same price as a compressor!
Also, why does the tank need to be big? Surely if the motor cfm covers the cfm of the tool, job done? Or can the motor not be left continuously running?
Also, why does the tank need to be big? Surely if the motor cfm covers the cfm of the tool, job done? Or can the motor not be left continuously running?
You need volume as well as pressure - as you proved with shop air. Somewhere your shop will have a dirty great receiver - which is where the air to lift your jacks came from.
Pressure drives the air into the jack and up it goes - nice big volume of high pressure air takes a while to drop pressure and therefore flow, even without the compressor kicking back in.
Tiny tank on a protable compressor simply won't hold enough air to be able to fill your jacks / run an impact wrech for more than a few seconds, before the pressure drops and the compressor kicks in - and then that itself won't be able to keep up with the demand, so everything will slow down.
Your jacks will eventually (relative to the shop air connection) get there, but your impact wrench won't be generating the force it claims it can.
Bri
Pressure drives the air into the jack and up it goes - nice big volume of high pressure air takes a while to drop pressure and therefore flow, even without the compressor kicking back in.
Tiny tank on a protable compressor simply won't hold enough air to be able to fill your jacks / run an impact wrech for more than a few seconds, before the pressure drops and the compressor kicks in - and then that itself won't be able to keep up with the demand, so everything will slow down.
Your jacks will eventually (relative to the shop air connection) get there, but your impact wrench won't be generating the force it claims it can.
Bri
Our cylinders were upto something silly like 40bar. We had a seperate compressor genny with a 4.5hp motor, with no tank, and just a line to screw into the air fixture to compress them. Something like 10-15 mins each to get the cylinders to pressure, 6 cylinders were used in a 24hr race.
Get an electrical genny and an electric/battery rattle gun, no messing about with air lines, useful at home/camping too!
Get an electrical genny and an electric/battery rattle gun, no messing about with air lines, useful at home/camping too!
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