Guide to Electric Air Compressors for home shops

yes, good article - I would strongly disagree with only one statement and that was the avoidance of industrial pumps - I have an industrial compressor (Quincy) with a 5 hp single phase motor (compressor and motor weigh in at near 1000 pounds) - it is hugely nicer than the homeowner specials and runs nicely all day - and you can get these used for about what a "homeowner special" costs. And if you get a good deal on a compressor with a 3 phase motor, a couple of hundred $ will buy you a VFD to soft start and run it nicely.

** Posted from **

Admittedly, my post does not dovetail with this thread since you're talking electric motor driven compressors. However, I simply must brag and chortle about my air cooled DIESEL milsurp air compressor. Apparently it was designed to air up tires on jets. It's similar to the "wheel barrow" compressors that carpenters use. It has a single tank and a two stage compressor (175 psi!) compressor, belt driven by a Yanmar 3 hp, fuel sipping, air cooled engine. It is well balanced and light weight. It CHURNS out air. It starts from a battery or with a rope. I swoon over its efficiency, reliability, and fuel economy. In fact, I think I'll go give it a hug right now. Vernon

Now Vernon, you weren't over there squeezing her jugs now were you?

Up North. Noooo. But I was tweaking her nipples! V

you can bet large (and small) body shops don't use oil-less compressors. The good old fashioned kind been working fine painting cars for a hundred years now.

s

Orange peel has absolutely nothing to do with oil, it has to do with viscosity and method of application. Oil in the paint will cause fish eyes.

With any decent compressor you don't need a filter to keep oil out of the air line, just a moisture trap. The only large capacity oil-less comperssors I am aware of are screw type. All of the industrial rated compressors that most of us can afford for a home shop use oil to lubricate the bearings, and they have a pressure system that has a small oil pump - good brands are ones like Quincy. Not good brands are the stuff sold at the big box stores.

so, imagine away, but your inferences are incorrect.

above statement is just plain not true.

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:10:59 -0800, Smitty Two cast forth these pearls of wisdom...:

Do you paint? I do. Never had an oil infiltration problem that was caused by the lubricant from my compressor. If you're encountering that, you've got compressor problems. For most people participating in threads like this, oilless translates directly to the cheap shitty stuff.

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:31:16 -0800, Smitty Two cast forth these pearls of wisdom...:

Water traps mostly. The previous poster is correct though, with respect to the type of compressor you will find in body shops.

I visited a large number of bankrupt industrial places. Not one had an oil-less compressor.

There are good oil-less compressors out there, they are marketed to dentists and are very expensive.

I sold one in 2004. It was 3 HP, dual headed.

I bought it from the military, as "broken, uneconomical to repair, condition H1" for $400. Turns out that what was broken was a tiny air line going to pressure regulator. A minute with a knife fixed it. It sold for $1,200.

i

I believe that screw compressors use even more oil than reciprocating, and need a big filtering system. (usually. a good article about hem is here:

i

Step 1. Decide what you need.

Step 2. Multiply that by 1.5 - 2.0

Step 3. Shop for a high quality two stage, or a two piston oil crank compressor if you only need a small one.

Step 4. Consider used, as you can sometimes get a killer deal on a big one.

Step 5. Install it right, electrically, piping, and air dryer.

Step 6. Enjoy and use, knowing you won't fry it, overwork it, or have it fall short when you need it the most.

My observations from not following these steps.

Steve

And noise. Put it somewhere NOT where the people are. Use big shock mounts and flexible lines to avoid coupling.

And that advice would apply rather you are buying an oilless or not. While a slight amount of oil had very little effect on solvent based paints, that is not the case with today's water based epoxy and latex paints.

What brand/model compressor is this? Price?

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:39:36 -0800, Smitty Two cast forth these pearls of wisdom...:

As is true of most everything. We do however tend to fall back to the rule, rather than the exception, since for 99% of the folks, the exception is either out of their reach, or in some other way, not really applicable. That makes the rule (for all intents and purposes) seem more absolute.

I do agree that in the greater sense of understanding something, the exception should be noted.

If you paint and don't want to have any problems, get a bottle of dry Nitrogen and a good two stage regulator. NO oil No water that you can blame as to your quality of the paint job. :)

John

Mike - quit wasting your time - this thread is cross posted to a bunch of newsgroups and is going around in circles - there is some correct information, much totally incorrect information (such as the orange peel quote above) - just let this thing die

On Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:21:36 -0500, john cast forth these pearls of wisdom...:

Whoa - just a minute there mister. That last sentence does not quite sit right. You might want to rethink that...