Help me finish my pneumatic tool strategy

[Houe]

I do not have any pneumatic impact wrenches or sockets yet and am trying to plan out which I am going to purchase. I do have a powermate 6hp 21gal air compressor (6CFM at 90psi, I think that is correct). I'm hoping I can plan this out so I only have to buy once and cry once. Im pretty sure I'm getting an 2235TiMAX or 2235QTiMAX. I'm also seriously considering the Astro 1822 or 1828. Looking at some Sunex sockets (2645 and 2646 to provide 1/2 drive regular and deep in 10mm to 36mm). If I go with the Astro 1822 (1/2" drive version) I could use the same sockets. However, most recommend the 1828 (3/8" drive version). I'm looking for advice on how you would approach my situation and help me plan my pneumatic tool strategy. What would you do if you were buying your pneumatic tools and did not currently have any yet?

 

[kd3pc]

I have quite a bit of air tools and between the hoses, the noise and so on...as they fail, I am replacing them with battery tools. The battery tools that I have so far - are as capable or more so than the air. I can take them to the field, or the equipment or the house and no need for the compressor, generator and so on.

I would seriously look at battery units, unless you have some special work.

 

[MFolks]

Pneumatic tools are used in aircraft assembly lines, and in the Military,as they do not produce a spark in explosive atmospheres.

 

[Houe]

I have quite a bit of air tools and between the hoses, the noise and so on...as they fail, I am replacing them with battery tools. The battery tools that I have so far - are as capable or more so than the air. I can take them to the field, or the equipment or the house and no need for the compressor, generator and so on.

I would seriously look at battery units, unless you have some special work.

I should have noted I do have a makita 18v 1/4" Impact driver. its primary duty was to drive screws in a deck I built. But with an adapter I should be able to use it to drive lower torqued bolts, correct?

 

[Professional Tool User]

As long as you are okay with waiting for the compressor to fill back up after 5 lug nuts and don't want to buy any die grinders or any other high CFM requirement tools later, I guess your current setup is fine. Otherwise, I'd be shopping around for a bigger compressor. If you are not constantly dealing with seized fasteners, I would consider skipping a full sized gun and just sticking with a stubby if this is home use. An air hammer would be worth getting though. You are not losing that much in compactness, so a 1/2 stubby gun will do.

 

[RKA]

I should have noted I do have a makita 18v 1/4" Impact driver. its primary duty was to drive screws in a deck I built. But with an adapter I should be able to use it to drive lower torqued bolts, correct?

You can and it will do fine for many things up to 75-100 ft lbs. But for things that require a little more oomph, an impact wrench will bring gobs more torque. Add me to the list of people that would go cordless if starting over. My compressor gets started once or twice a year working on my own cars, rest of the time I use the cordless impact wrenches, impact drivers and ratchets. Looking forward to adding the M12 extended ratchet soon.

 

[Houe]

This is for home. I don't mind if I have to wait occasionally for my compressor.

 

[Houe]

I am really hesitant to move completely to cordless electric for impact. I think I'd be fine having a cordless for the smaller stuff (and i do have a smaller impact makita), but for 1/2 I'm pretty sure I want to go pneumatic. I don't do this for a living so longevity is more important to me as opposed to that absolute most time efficient. I know battery stuff is going to change and go obsolete much quicker than pneumatic will. In 20 years the electric will be long gone, but the pneumatic will be good to go. I'm willing to listen though if I'm off base.

 

[rlitman]

I am really hesitant to move completely to cordless electric for impact. I think I'd be fine having a cordless for the smaller stuff (and i do have a smaller impact makita), but for 1/2 I'm pretty sure I want to go pneumatic. I don't do this for a living so longevity is more important to me as opposed to that absolute most time efficient. I know battery stuff is going to change and go obsolete much quicker than pneumatic will. In 20 years the electric will be long gone, but the pneumatic will be good to go. I'm willing to listen though if I'm off base.

That's one reason I'm more heavily invested in pneumatic. That, and the fact that pneumatic tools will work (and last a long time) in a wider range of temperatures than cordless (and my garage is not heated).

But the arguments towards cordless often make good sense too. With my Fein multi-tool, I chose corded. Same for my angle grinders.

 

[boostedranger]

I am a professional technician at a Ford dealer and I use a mix of cordless and air tools. The new battery powered 1/2 inch guns have come a long way and I use an older snap on for 80% of what I do on a daily basis. I use a 1/2 air gun only when needed. that being said there are some tools that you can't replaced with battery power, such as 3/8 90 deg impact(my personal favorite), die grinders and air hammer. I am in the process of building a 40x60 and will def have a large compressor for when I need it, but prob wont use air tools all that often. There is nothing worse than having a seized or tight bolt that wont budge with the cordless and you drag the air gun out and it wont do the job either because you don't have enough CFM and pressure to push the gun to full capacity

Jon

 

[Mr_B]

Yeh you only get best out of air impacts when got well over the 90psi rated pressure when tool running .
Still some of the hardest hitting and smallest impacts are air plus they fraction of cost , far more durable and far more usable due to size to power ratio .
Good spec stubby like the facom/mac, aircat or astro max be nice usable tool .
One bigger harder hitter be nice to
Don't overlook the nano reactionless ratchets, good air hammer too .
Air still super useful in an autoshop and no way I could do same work and same time frames without it.
Air tools evolving too and nano impacts are pretty amazing if buy the better ones .
Seems OP got half decent compressor some of the most useful air tools makes perfect sense .

 

[Houe]

Yeh you only get best out of air impacts when got well over the 90psi rated pressure when tool running .
Still some of the hardest hitting and smallest impacts are air plus they fraction of cost , far more durable and far more usable due to size to power ratio .
Good spec stubby like the facom/mac, aircat or astro max be nice usable tool .
One bigger harder hitter be nice to
Don't overlook the nano reactionless ratchets, good air hammer too .
Air still super useful in an autoshop and no way I could do same work and same time frames without it.
Air tools evolving too and nano impacts are pretty amazing if buy the better ones .
Seems OP got half decent compressor some of the most useful air tools makes perfect sense .

My compressor charges up to 155 PSI. I'm not sure how low it goes before kicking back on. It claims 6CFM at 90PSI... I understand its not a top of the line compressor but it has served me well for the last 10 years. It seems like it should be able to run impacts reasonably well for my needs. I don't need 100% duty - I'm just a weekend warrior tired of breaker bars, busted knuckles, and sore muscles looking to ease the manual part of repairs some.

 

[rlitman]

Your compressor will be fine for an impact. If you're using it to drive lag screws, then you might occasionally have to wait a few seconds for it to catch up.

It will run constantly and only give you short runs with a die grinder, and is nowhere near big enough for a DA sander.

 

[Citation]

Your compressor will be fine for an impact. If you're using it to drive lag screws, then you might occasionally have to wait a few seconds for it to catch up.

It will run constantly and only give you short runs with a die grinder, and is nowhere near big enough for a DA sander.

Spot on with this.

 

[Mr_B]

My compressor charges up to 155 PSI. I'm not sure how low it goes before kicking back on. It claims 6CFM at 90PSI... I understand its not a top of the line compressor but it has served me well for the last 10 years. It seems like it should be able to run impacts reasonably well for my needs. I don't need 100% duty - I'm just a weekend warrior tired of breaker bars, busted knuckles, and sore muscles looking to ease the manual part of repairs some.

Totally understand and for a few hundred bucks you can build up 3 or 4 game changing air tools.

First thing I go for is a stubby 1/2", that my most used air tool along with air hammer .
I'm a big fan of the Facom ns1600f (get it mac branded also) it proper hard hitting, aircat do a good one and the astro nanos not bad but don't hit as hard .
If you seen the astro nano hitting real hard that because it on shop air supply with like 120psi dynamic air pressure .
Aircat and astro both very affordable and save you lot of fatigue and hassle .
air hammer small cut off tool/ die grinder be handy too as wood the astro reactionless impacting ratchet and probably one more full size 1/2" impact .
You'll buy all this for fraction of the cost of couple battery tools and the air tools last decades if oiled when out for use and stored sensibly .
Air tools are such small outlay for benefit they going give you .

 

[Ton ton]

Following.

 

[Eric29]

One of the most helpful tools I have is an air chisel. It’s great for pounding on ball joints, pounding stuck rotors off, and getting nuts off if they’re stuck. I know that Bosch makes a Bulldog which runs on a battery but I doubt it would do the same kind of work as an air chisel. Also, I find that air tools are a lot lighter to use than battery powered tools.

 

[454ragtop]

I think cordless is too big and clunky compared to a compact 1/2" gun, no interest at all in acquiring one. Add in changing and obsolete battery platforms and pneumatic is a no brainer to me. Do love my cordless drills though.

 

[lardy1]

Some of us older folks find ourselves already vested in an established platform and can't justify the cost of converting to the newer if we are starting basically from scratch. I'm talking non professional. I'll stay with pneumatic because of that reason. It certainly isn't due to any doubt of the capabilities of newer technologies.