Steer me towards a good garage compressor

[Tarsun2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfjSm_ieRkE

[Drcemento]

That’s a hard working panel! Our stove, dryer, and water heater are all gas, so it frees up allot of breaker room for the fun stuff! You might have some room to re-arrange some of those 20 Amps and find space for a dedicated compressor breaker. Depends on what they are being used for.

[Trbo323]

i got the Husky Q27 quiet series 27 gal many many years ago.
3 speed
90psi max output pressure with adjustable reg.

it SAYS 4cfm at 90psi and 6cfm at 40psi.

BUT its all BS. Its like aquarium canister filters (if you're in the hobby)
they dont actually measure the pressure and flow at the hose end.

this has done everything i needed over the years.
impact tools, pneumatic tools/grinders, some sand blasting (hand held blaster).

the biggest thing, AlWAYS drain the tank.

Those numbers on your compressor are similar to what my current compressor should be able to do as well problem is if those were actually true then I should be sandblasting about half the time and the compressor run the other half while I'm taking a break but when I'm finding is that best I'm getting about a minute worth of sand blasting and then have to wait for the compressor for about 3 or 4 minutes I wouldn't say all of my sandblasting is at full pressure either.

I could go with a larger unit like 20 or 30 gallons 110v but the problem there is numbers on those are not significantly better than what I currently have only the tank capacity is larger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfjSm_ieRkE

I'm a little confused, I mean I suspected the manufacturers fudge the numbers a bit but I think he missed something there. 4cfm at 90psi I've always understood as, supplying a tool with 90psi, the flow as the air EXITS the tool is 4cfm. Measuring at the pressure side is of course going to be much less but it also depends on the tool. I'm only assuming he was running that die grinder wide open so if that's the case, regardless of what the compressor was putting out the tool was only using 0.8cfm the way he measured it which isn't what it's supposed to use either.

This is also how scuba tanks are measured. The most common size is 80cf but that's really, 80cf of air at atmospheric pressure compressed down into the tank. They are not telling you the cf of the interior of the tank like we use for paintball.

Long term, I'm looking at a blast cabinet. It's listed as 10cfm at 90. Scaling up the results on that video, I should look for a compressor that is around 40cfm at 90. Sorry but no, I'm not saying he is wrong that the manufacturers are using the best numbers they can but you don't need a $10,000 compressor to run a basic blast cabinet either. He is missing something or making assumptions about how the numbers are measured



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[Tarsun2]

its crazy right... lol

aquarium canister filters are rated at GPH. this is what everyone uses to advertise and select the appropriate size filter. the problem is that manufacturers measure flow rate right at the pump opening, (not the tank inlet). they also measure flow at the water level (not from under the tank where 99% of canisters are placed). And as the biggest insult, they measure the flow with no filter media. Who the hell uses a canister filter with no tubing, right next to the tank, and with no filter media...

most all advertising is built on lies. its the reason that your compressor at face value SHOULD work for what you need; but dosent.

you can try removing the stock reg to get better flow and then use the reg on the tool to adjust to your specs.
im assuming you need hvlp like painters need iirc.

maybe look into the belt driven twin piston pumps. do they make that for 110v?

[Tarsun2]

if your parents are like mine, they would give me a budget and if it was more, i would cover the difference.
i have zero experience with this style so maybe others can chime in but i was thinking of something like this... or at least this style.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Campbell-Hausfeld-20-Gal-Electric-Air-Compressor-VT6290/203002182

[Trbo323]

most all advertising is built on lies. its the reason that your compressor at face value SHOULD work for what you need; but dosent.

On paper my compressor should be able to manage what I'm using it for it's supposedly rated for 3.8 CFM at 100. My little bucket blaster says it needs 3.5 at 50. I was actually running at much higher than that around 85 to get through the powder coating but what's happening I'm getting maybe one minute of work for every three or four that the compressor has to catch up and then usually just to make sure I'm taking a good 20 to 30 minute break here and there just to make sure the compressor is not overheating. It took me an entire afternoon to sandblast one X7 body

im assuming you need hvlp like painters need iirc.

You would assume wrong, well at least the way I understand it anyway. I'm not actually positive what's considered high pressure in garage compressor speak. Most of the sandblasters do not give a consumption reading at 40 PSI like a lot of tools do because they're not intended to be run that low you need both high volume and high pressure. My pressure so you can get the sand particles up to speed high volume so your work area is larger than the tip of a pencil

maybe look into the belt driven twin piston pumps. do they make that for 110v? [/QUOTE]

if your parents are like mine, they would give me a budget and if it was more, i would cover the difference.
i have zero experience with this style so maybe others can chime in but i was thinking of something like this... or at least this style.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Campbell-Hausfeld-20-Gal-Electric-Air-Compressor-VT6290/203002182

Here's the problem I'm finding with all 110v units while the cubic feet per minute is slightly better than my current compressor it's not a huge margin. Compressor you found would probably do okay with my little bucket blaster but down the road I would really like to move on to a cabinet because right now I'm losing a lot of my sand somewhere around one quarter each cycle. A cabinet would much more efficiently recycle the sand but the little bench top one I'm looking at needs 10cfm at 90. So that 110 compressor can only supply about half of the air it would need on paper. I would be right back in the boat I am in now waiting for the compressor to always catch up and having to push it really hard. Most of the 60 to 80 gallon 240b compressors I am finding are around 15 CFM or better so even if that number is fudged a bit I'm still at least in the ballpark of what the cabinet will use

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[mueller]

Compressor specs are like sweet talk from party girls. Trust your gut and stay skeptical.

The US GENERAL 60gals that HF used to sell were rebadged Belaires - they don't pop up often but usually a killer deal if they do.

[Tarsun2]

interesting.
hvhp i suppose lol

what about adding a surge tank and keeping the compressor you got?

either way, you may need to run a 220v line to the garage and get a big twin piston pump if you plan on moving to a cab' blaster and blasting consistently.

all the automotive shops i worked at had huge 220v twin pistons with a large tank.

[Trbo323]

interesting.
hvhp i suppose lol

what about adding a surge tank and keeping the compressor you got?

either way, you may need to run a 220v line to the garage and get a big twin piston pump if you plan on moving to a cab' blaster and blasting consistently.

all the automotive shops i worked at had huge 220v twin pistons with a large tank.

If I do a surge tank I still have the same problem I might be able to get a little more work done for the compressor kicks on but once it kicks on it's going to be running for a lot longer. A few cycles of that and I should probably give my compressor a break to cool down.

Like I said it took me an entire afternoon to do one X7 body and that was after I got a lot of the easy to reach places clear with a dremel and a sanding disc

I'm fine if I have to take a few breaks I can do stuff like polish the internals at the same time. But yeah an entire afternoon or one body it's a little much ideally I'd like to do a couple at the same time

I'm still leaning towards a 220 compressor on the used market seems there's enough people in my area are looking to downsize that it might not be much of a problem to find one

So next question somebody talk to me about filtration and water separation

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[Tarsun2]

well it looks like you looked into your options already and did your homework.
sounds like the 220 is your best bet.

how clean/dry does the air need to be?
most people use a simple spin down water separator. i think they are something like $10 or $20.

i can imagine the cheap ones would choke the flow rate down though.

[Trbo323]

how clean/dry does the air need to be?

This is a good question that I haven't really considered. Truthfully I don't know. When I was sandblasting that X7 body I started noticing water coming through my line I'm not sure that it was really doing much but it did get kind of annoying cuz it would best textures and the colors so I couldn't tell exactly what happened to sand lasted away and what had not

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[Tarsun2]

do you have a water trap on the tank outlet?

i know i get water in my tank but it never makes it to the tool. it never makes it to the water trap either... maybe my flow rate is too low; then again my impact hammer is an air hog. so maybe my little water trap isnt working.

[Trbo323]

do you have a water trap on the tank outlet?

I don't have the next compressor yet so idk

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[Tarsun2]

lol nah, i mean the compressor you got now... you said you had moisture/water coming out the spray gun. does that compressor have any sort of water trap?

[Trbo323]

lol nah, i mean the compressor you got now... you said you had moisture/water coming out the spray gun. does that compressor have any sort of water trap?

Oh okay misunderstood you there my current tank does have a tap on the bottom of the tank outlets are on the top though so I'm not actually certain how water was getting in the line

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