The GarageThis forum is for discussions of what goes on in the garage - "the tools, the techniques, the tricks" ...or something like that.
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I've just found this part of the forum, i haven't been on the org for a while now.
But a little info on my situation, I'm was looking to get an air compressor ( most likely a 26 or 33 gal craftsman upright with the tag of 300$). I was a entry level tech for volkswagen and collected my share of air tools since the shop supplied the compressed air. I quit and don't plan on going back into that field but i love to work on cars. I have a whole draw full of air tools mainly my 1/2 IR 2135TI gun and my 3/8 snap-on impact gun. 2 air ratchets a 1/4 and 3/8, blow guns, cut off wheels ( personal fav) and probaly other stuff as well i haven't touched my air tool drawer since i quit.
I've just always been using the breaker bar. Now i told myself this summer i'll grab me a compressor and call it a day. Start using my tools once again. Since i found this section and i've been reading up on your cordless impacts putting out 300ft/lb, it got me thinking should i say screw the compressor and go all cordless stuff. I"m not hard core mechanic anymore. And i dont know if i can exactly make room for a air compressor in the garage. I'm almost certain i can sell my air tools and come up with little money out of my pocket if i was go to with air tools.
Not sure where i can get cordless ratchet. Noticed IR had some.
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I have a little 10 gal, 5 hp compressor, and it does the job just fine. I use it for everything, from working on the car, to household repairs. since it has wheels, its portable enough to bring out of the garage, and I have enough hose to get the jobs done. and it doesnt take up much room in the garage. since you arent a "hard core mechanic, anymore", you dont need a big tank. the smaller ones should do just fine, as long as you arent doing any painting, or hammering away at every bolt on the car
i would do at least 30 gal or its going to be on a lot and its worth it if you work on your car a lot
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1998 318 ti,s50 swap, m3 brakes, green house control arm bushings,H&R race springs with bilstein struts,ASA wheels,Magnaflow catback ,sparco seats,two 10” JL audio subs,3.73 rear end,euro headlights and more to come![/center]
I've been contemplating this as well. I have been tempted for a while now, but I'm just not sure yet. I love them, but I'm just not sure I would get enough use out of it.
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1996 I30 auto champagne gold
2007 350z redline
1994 Mazda 626 v6 champagne gold (for sale)
1990 240sx fastback red (sold)
1994 Chevy Lumina Euro white (sold)
I like cordless too, but after you buy all the tools, (impact, rachet, grinder, cutoff, sanders, etc etc) you could've bought a pretty good compressor. he's already got the tools.
Cordless seems much easier and just as fast unless you are working on 18-wheelers
I bought my compressor and everything when I was pulling the motor out of my Camaro and doing heads/cam to it.... cordless would have only lasted... well, not long enough. Plus I would have keept getting pissed whenever they started to die out. Oh-well, I have cordless stuff too, but I prefer corded and air.
I see your point. Well for me, all I use/have is an impact gun, so it was a better financial choice. It's also a gun that MANY people here and other places swear by. Snap-ons website has a few videos of the thing in action and facts about it as well...probably slightly inflated for marketing purposes, but still pretty close if you ask me. One battery charge lasts quite a long time as well. The thing isn't exactly light-weight and compact for tight spaces, but that's where extensions and hand tools work
I personally question how long those electric guns would last? To me it just seems like it would burn out after 5 yrs. I have no proof, but that seems like alot of stress for electric.
I couldn't do any work without the air compressor. For the latest exhaust stuff, I even opted out with the flex bar and go with the air tools...it's so much faster and safer in my opinion. Just for the blow gun alone it's worth it. I even use it to blow out the dust in all my computers & CPU fan (just turn the PSI down though and don't hold it so close, once it was too high and it blew a part right off the motherboard and snapped pieces of a CPU fan)
Plus I need the blow gun alone just for car work...I use it all the time.
around 1500, but was used. a little over a year old when I got it. Priced them at TSC, a brand new one is about 2400. Worth every penny. I won't need another one for quite some time. 100% duty cycle too, my orbital sander only makes it kick on about once a minute and catches right up without you stopping. My dad has a cambell hausfield oilless, (that won't run a cutoff wheel for more than 10 seconds I might add) and mine is about half as loud as his. like I said,,,love it. 3rd favorite tool i own right behind my welder and my tool box .
I personally question how long those electric guns would last? To me it just seems like it would burn out after 5 yrs. I have no proof, but that seems like alot of stress for electric.
I couldn't do any work without the air compressor. For the latest exhaust stuff, I even opted out with the flex bar and go with the air tools...it's so much faster and safer in my opinion. Just for the blow gun alone it's worth it. I even use it to blow out the dust in all my computers & CPU fan (just turn the PSI down though and don't hold it so close, once it was too high and it blew a part right off the motherboard and snapped pieces of a CPU fan)
Plus I need the blow gun alone just for car work...I use it all the time.
I would figure that a person with a career in cars would need an air-gun since it would get continuous use, but an average Joe that works on only a few cars once in a while, the electric is more than enough. Only thing that I've heard of going bad is the batteries just dying out. They charge really quick and last a really long time though.
a little more info on what i want. I really dont expect to spend $1000 on a air compressor. Yea if i did a lot of side jobs sure not a problem. But now i'm mainly doing maintences on about 6-7 cars ( family and friends).
Doing the numbers it somewhat makes sense for me to get a 30gal or smaller tank. Once i clean up the space in the corner and get the measurements on what i can fit. I've been eyeballing the simple 33gal craftsman http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00916762000P
i have a standard 120v outlet, and this looks like it will be exactly what i need. But i'm not 100% its going to last down the road. I might be looking for other VERY similiar ones other places.
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Use the crap out of it in the first 11 months and then go exchange it for a brand new one if you still like it/it holds up good, or return it...1-year warranty ftw
Here is the compressor I have in my messy *** garage. Works great, even did a T-Top conversion on a hard top Camaro with it, so there was a lot of constant use with a cut-off wheel, air chisel, and so on. Kept up with us just fine. This compressor seems to handle whatever I throw at it.
I have even polished wheels with this thing, and I have no idea how to polish so it was a trial and error type thing, but here is how that came out.
around 1500, but was used. a little over a year old when I got it. Priced them at TSC, a brand new one is about 2400. Worth every penny. I won't need another one for quite some time. 100% duty cycle too, my orbital sander only makes it kick on about once a minute and catches right up without you stopping. My dad has a cambell hausfield oilless, (that won't run a cutoff wheel for more than 10 seconds I might add) and mine is about half as loud as his. like I said,,,love it. 3rd favorite tool i own right behind my welder and my tool box .
Yup, this is a real industrial one - I was surprised to see it for home use. This is the small portble line. The difference is in the details. Oil lubed cast iron pump with the visible fly wheel - I'm getting one similar to yours but not upright. I wanted a gas one but they are way too much for my wallet.
Either way, you won't have to buy another compressor in your lifetime as long as you maintain it and follow the service manual.
Did you put an air line filter on it? You may want to consider it, a guy at CP told me that even the expensive rotary screw models still put water into the line...so regardless of the cost of the compressor, water will still infiltrate your tools and could rust the inside.
Yup, this is a real industrial one - I was surprised to see it for home use. This is the small portble line. The difference is in the details. Oil lubed cast iron pump with the visible fly wheel - I'm getting one similar to yours but not upright. I wanted a gas one but they are way too much for my wallet.
Either way, you won't have to buy another compressor in your lifetime as long as you maintain it and follow the service manual.
Did you put an air line filter on it? You may want to consider it, a guy at CP told me that even the expensive rotary screw models still put water into the line...so regardless of the cost of the compressor, water will still infiltrate your tools and could rust the inside.
Well I have a small buisness, doing lifts and custom modification on trail trucks, mostly jeeps. We just closed our doors about 2 weeks ago due to this economic slump, plus the rising gas prices a jeep that gets 12mpg isn't the hot ticket anymore. So I have quite an extensive tool collection at my house now lol. We had just moved to a bigger building 6 months ago.
I have an IR inline air filter system, GP64 model, very nice, dry as a bone, but yes the compressor does get alot of condensation, especially in humid ohio weather. I drain it every night and it's always got some in there after use.
Gas ones are nice, anything made by IR is top notch. I've abused my poor IR impact for about 3 years now, take it on trail rides, dropped it in the mud once too. After I took it apart and cleaned it out it still works like new. I didn't need the portability. I've got a small pancake one I use for the nail gun if I need to, really that's the only use I have for anything portable, its a no name one lol, I honestly can't even remember, but has held up for awhile.
It came with 50' of hose and an air tool kit with a bunch of different tools. You can't tell in the picture but it has wheels and is very easy to move around. I bought it from Home Depot and at the time it was like $300 + tax.
I've been contemplating this as well. I have been tempted for a while now, but I'm just not sure yet. I love them, but I'm just not sure I would get enough use out of it.
if you get a compressor, you will find use for it. believe me.
We just closed our doors about 2 weeks ago due to this economic slump, plus the rising gas prices a jeep that gets 12mpg isn't the hot ticket anymore. So I have quite an extensive tool collection at my house now lol. We had just moved to a bigger building 6 months ago.
Dude what is it with your economy? I had to sell out all my US stock positions over a yr ago, because I had no faith, and actually started to become scared of LOSING big while lying in bed at night.
If you want to protect yourself - think SHORT - this is a bear market.
i picked up a small PC 5-6 gal unit the other weekend to do my axle, i loved the size and the noise level was fair. Just i needed something bigger. my IR 2135 ate up the car like nothing. I needed to wait a couple of mins for the compressor to build up enough power for my needs. The compressor was a little pricey at 170$... i returned it.
Now i'm going to slowly move to to see a mid teens size take or a 20gal and see how i like that.
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Last year I searched and searched for a unit to fit my budget. I looked at oil less at first as they are cheaper and seem like a good value. I quickly learned about (loud) noise and (short) life expectancy. I really wanted a 60 gal 220v model, they are not much money but I didnt want to run a 220v line to the garage. That would have blown my budget with wire, conduit, boxes, and fuses. 6 gauge copper wire was about $2 a foot and I needed to go well over 50'. So I settled on 110v, 30 gal, oil lubed units. Basically the biggest and baddest 110v home owner compressors. Sears, Home Depot, and Lowes all have similar units, around $400, similar scfm & hp ratings. The Craftsman unit is horizontal, which takes up more floor space. I almost got the Husky but I got a Kobalt on clearance instead. $318, 30 gal, 120v, upright, prefect really. I really like it, pretty quiet too. Its actually rated higher than the replacement model. I stole the old 15 amp pool circuit as a dedicated line, so wiring it was only a few bucks in materials. I have had it for a few months now and Ive really put it through its paces. It was so nice to pull down the cross member for the motor mount install with air tools. Took about 30 minutes, and my arms didnt ache! Swapping wheels? No problem. I also took apart 3 motors and 2 trannys in about an hour. I do wish it had a larger tank with more scfm for added tool usage. No issues other than that.
Cliffs:
Get a compressor, they cut job times in half.
Get the biggest one you can afford, save up now.
Do some research before you buy.
Stay away from oil less pumps, they are loud and dont last as long.
I use my Husky 26-gallon compressor weekly. Yeah, I use it to break bolts and nuts free, but I also use it a lot for home painting and improvement. I painted the exposed basement ceiling at my house flat black with the compressor and paint gun. It was far easier to paint the ceiling that way than with a roller. I've painted furniture too along with the lower sills and wheels on my G35.
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2003 Black G35 sedan automatic
Best ET: 14.32, Best MPH: 99.87mph
Mods: MD spacer, HR y-pipe, RevUp airbox, Z-tube, 05 sedan midpipe, 350Z/Coupe springs, lots of other stuff
Sold -1996 Black SE 5-speed MEVI & JWT ECU equipped
14.31@99.34mph with a 2.18 60'
I use my Husky 26-gallon compressor weekly. Yeah, I use it to break bolts and nuts free, but I also use it a lot for home painting and improvement. I painted the exposed basement ceiling at my house flat black with the compressor and paint gun. It was far easier to paint the ceiling that way than with a roller. I've painted furniture too along with the lower sills and wheels on my G35.
Really? It ran continuously for the painting and didn't break? I burnt out a friends Husky oil-less compressor this summer. I wasn't even using it that hard. I've come to the conclusion that the cast iron pump design with fly wheel is the only way to go (like the CH & IR picture above), so i'll be buying one of those this winter. This Husky is the 2nd oil-less one burned out on me.
Matt93 makes a good point about locating the tank away from the work area. For 2 reasons - sound obviously is annoying - and functionality - if you want to keep your tools forever and not rust the internals, insert an inline air filter on the line (the kind that can drain the water) between the tank and the tools. I think I recall the min. distance being 25 feet between the filter and the tank. Then from the filter I have a 2nd 15 foot hose going to the tools.
Really? It ran continuously for the painting and didn't break? I burnt out a friends Husky oil-less compressor this summer. I wasn't even using it that hard. I've come to the conclusion that the cast iron pump design with fly wheel is the only way to go (like the CH & IR picture above), so i'll be buying one of those this winter. This Husky is the 2nd oil-less one burned out on me.
With a 26-gal tank, the pump was only coming on about once every 20 to 30 minutes and even then, it would quickly recover the air within about 5 minutes. Two of my friends have Husky compressors similiar to mine and they haven't burned theirs out yet. Mine is about 2 years old and my friends have had theirs for about 6 years. Mine has a variable speed pump so I can vary how quickly I need to fill the tank, how often and long it cycles, and can control the operating volume. If I ran a shop or used the thing daily, then I'd step up to a $1000+ quality compressor. Until that time comes, I'll stick with the $250 compressors. I do buy quality impact tools though. The Husky impact that came with the kit was a joke. It was rated at 250ft/lbs, but we all know that's a BS rating. I got a IR 500ft/lb impact and can take care of anything except for axle nuts torqued on with 250 ft/lbs plus rust.
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2003 Black G35 sedan automatic
Best ET: 14.32, Best MPH: 99.87mph
Mods: MD spacer, HR y-pipe, RevUp airbox, Z-tube, 05 sedan midpipe, 350Z/Coupe springs, lots of other stuff
Sold -1996 Black SE 5-speed MEVI & JWT ECU equipped
14.31@99.34mph with a 2.18 60'
It's fast...
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