Best Air Tool Brands

[calandrod]

I looked around and I couldn’t find any other threads on this.
I use my Pneumatic die grinder all the time. Mine burned out today and I hate cheap quality. What is the best performing brand on air tools in general and specifically die grinders. Is ARO any good? I’ve seen some of theirs floating around. All I care about is the best quality. Thanks for the input!

 

[cannuck]

IMHO pretty much a tossup between IR and CP

 

[RAS61]

IMHO pretty much a tossup between IR and CP

What about SP from Japan?

 

[ihateminimumwage]

St Louis Pneumatic makes killer USA die grinders. Mine muscled through work that my Carlyle, cheapo HF and (tired) Snap-on all struggled through or stopped on.

 

[cvairwerks]

Dotco beats out just about everything else for quality and longevity. I’ve used Dotco grinders and trimmers that were made in the early ‘60’s and the factory guys couldn’t kill them unless the physically smashed them. The ones I own were made in the 70’s and work fine.

 

[Citation]

Panamerican Tools Nova line is really nice for the money. I've played with several of their air drills, they are very nice.

 

[vwpieces]

Aircat makes good ratchets
Astro Pneumatic for impacts

 

[nadogail]

Chicago Pneumatic

 

[2ndGearRubber]

What about SP from Japan?

I'm running one right now, very happy with it after 2 months. That said, it is NOT made in japan despite it being advertised as such. Other of their tools are, but not the SP7211 I got in December on Amazon.


I have astro, CP, and SP. I got a defective astro out of the box from amazon, so I returned it and took it as a sign to get the "made in japan" SP. Which was made in Taiwan. Still a nice grinder though, body is fatter than a normal grinder.

 

[Tinner]

Dotco.

 

[freudianfloyd]

I am a huge fan of Chicago Pneumatic.

 

[demarpaint]

I've had no problems with IR, CP, Aircat, and Astro.

 

[cannuck]

In my experience the durability of any decent quality air tool is a function of how dry, clean and well lubed the air supply is. No doubt some good stuff outside of the "safe harbour" of CP/IR but I think you need to be "industry specific" when looking for much narrow range of air tools.

 

[Mr_B]

Astro Sioux Kuani Sumake Aircat IR CP SP

Is a lot of great air tools out there

For die grinders Sioux are good and Astro got some good ones too .

Taiwan is main player for latest innovation/manufacture of modern era air tools so lot of old well known names don't mean you getting best tools on market .

 

[GeoBruin]

How much $ do you have? Dynabrade..

 

[sz0k30]

IR. I have several. Years ago when I first got a compressor and was looking for air tools, I checked with my brother-in-law who was a mechanic. He told me in his experience everything other than IR was junk & throw away.

 

[wafrederick]

SP Air whom makes some of Mac's air tools,lR.SP Air is Japanese

 

[VolvoRyan]

I seem to be a sucker for IR.

-Ryan

 

[Iridium rand]

Can’t go wrong with IR (which is personally my favorite if you couldn’t already tell ) or CP, but of course check into what people think of the individual models you’re considering since no one company does everything the best or offers the best value. Astro as well I’ve never been let down, their impacts are top of the line and very good prices too

on the higher end there’s sioux/snap-on and Atlas copco, but there’s diminishing returns spending that kind of money (especially snap-on so I’ve heard…) considering almost all air tools besides the absolute cheapest work great and last forever even when abused most of the time

 

[William Payne]

Bump because I can. I’m definitely interested in this topic. Definitely interested in hearing about some of the Japanese brands.

 

[GTO]

Astro

 

[Bockscar]

Cleco

 

[johninct]

IR Impacts, Snap-On Die Grinders.

 

[dnschmidt]

Astro, Aircat, SP Air. That's my list.

 

[GeoBruin]

I don't own any but Dynabrade seems to always rate on these lists.

Edit: I see that I not only got suckered into commenting on a necro thread, but I also noticed that I had already made this same comment.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Chicago Pneumatic

They were the "industry standard" in impacts and air chisels for many, many years. Still excellent but there are a lot of good alternatives.

The HF Chief air chisel is hard to beat for the price.

 

[Ms6peters]

IR ‘Industrial versions’ for die grinders; proven very durable for me.

Straight & Right angle air drills - Sioux tools

For Impacts (use mostly battery now); for air it’s MG Snapons, and a new lightweight Kuken 3/8.

 

[Iridium rand]

They were the "industry standard" in impacts and air chisels for many, many years. Still excellent but there are a lot of good alternatives.

The HF Chief air chisel is hard to beat for the price.

Actually I think the IR 119 is a little cheaper surprisingly, and sometimes the kit is even cheaper than the bare tool for some reason, with far superior trigger control and a bit more power to boot but either is a great option

 

[tarbellb]

Dynabrade
Sioux
Dotco
Senco (old school)
Fuji Heavy Industries ie Hitachi, Koki, Hikoki, Makita, etc...
Nippon
Florida Pneumatic
Mirka wood working
Some IR some CP


Just follow the COO typically, exception are all the new innovative brands and industries. Dont sleep on Aircat and Astro

 

[Xcursion88]

Chicago Pneumatic all day long

IR is ok too...

I just prefer CP.

That said I'd never get back into air. Never.
Electric is where it's at.

 

[GeoBruin]

Chicago Pneumatic all day long

IR is ok too...

I just prefer CP.

That said I'd never get back into air. Never.
Electric is where it's at.

For Die grinders!? I feel like my milwaukee m12 has about the guts of a decent 1/3 hp or crappy 1/2 hp pneumatic grinder. Good for burrs and up to 2" surface conditioning discs but it will over heat and/or draw too much current with larger tools. And it crushes batteries (I'm talking 6.0 here).

Don't get me wrong, I use it all the time, but to say there's no longer a place for air seems a bit much. Are you talking 18 volt? Corded?

 

[William Payne]

The appeal of air is simple. Same with corded electric. Changing batteries all the time *****. Battery tools are not yet at the stage to be usable for anything more then short term use. I was looking at a Milwaukee die grinder a little while back and was put off that it only had 20 minutes of battery life. I don't want to be swapping batteries all the time.

Corded power tools have no faults in my mind as far as use goes except for weight, size, and swapping between them. With air it is just one hose, corded you have to either have them all plugged and grab and go or unplug and plug all the time which requires you to walk to where they are plugged in.

 

[Xcursion88]

For Die grinders!? I feel like my milwaukee m12 has about the guts of a decent 1/3 hp or crappy 1/2 hp pneumatic grinder. Good for burrs and up to 2" surface conditioning discs but it will over heat and/or draw too much current with larger tools. And it crushes batteries (I'm talking 6.0 here).

Don't get me wrong, I use it all the time, but to say there's no longer a place for air seems a bit much. Are you talking 18 volt? Corded?

Just a figure of speech based on what's used most or what I use most.
Most of what I use is electric but...

But...

Some things we can't get away from...

Example...
Air lines to the tire machine. Still need air there.
I clean rim beads with a CP angle die grinder and rice cake.
BTW...a lot of garages just dismount and mount tires no matter how much debris is on the rim. That's ridiculous!! (We never ever...and I mean ever...get one returned)
Back to the point..
Air is right there and outlets so I leave that CP tool hooked up to air all the time ready to go cleaning rims.
An air hammer is another one. Obviously a specialty item I don't use that often but when I need to hammer on something that Air hammer is king. Mine is a Mac brand and it's the biggest they make.
When you've done this **** long enough you know little tricks to help with removal of things so when I need the air hammer it's a mayday alright and I need a serious one!!
(BTW...it's been rebuilt once in 20 years) I would've replaced it with a new if they weren't so expensive. Die grinders as example are a fraction of that hammer price.

That said what's in my hands more than anything else is impacts and ratchets and angled grinders (cutting)
Probably 90 percent of the time I'm using one of the three.
Here is where I'd never go back to air and I've got some tremendous air tools. From big 3/4" IR guns to an ultra stubby 1/2" impact from CP to a stubby IR ratchet that nearly jumps out the hand with power....

But...

It's been a year, at least, since I've used any of those.

Electric is quicker, less cumbersome, more powerful (for the most part)...integrated lights, etc etc.

 

[GeoBruin]

Oh I'm with you. I'm never more than 6 feet from an air drop in my shop and I don't even own an air impact.

I just thought the OP was asking about die grinders.

 

[dnschmidt]

The best die grinder is an electric corded model. If you're porting cylinder heads all day it makes the most sense. Air die grinders are massive air hogs which in an industrial setting doesn't matter much since you're not paying the electric bill to keep that 20HP compressor running but for a small shop or home use a variable speed corded electric is the bomb. I prefer Makita or Metabo. The electrics also have a lot more torque than your typical air die grinder which works by blowing a shitload of air over a turbine. Their tiny size is an advantage but that comes with a load of inefficiency.

 

[Xcursion88]

Oh I'm with you. I'm never more than 6 feet from an air drop in my shop and I don't even own an air impact.

I just thought the OP was asking about die grinders.

I read this in the OP's original post...

"What is the best performing brand on air tools in general"

Hence my response

 

[mattmcginn]

For die grinders, my favorites are Dotco, Cleco and Aro. Dotco is the name everyone knows, so deals are not always forthcoming. Sometimes you can score ARO units at pawn shops, flea markets, swap meets for a song.

Advantages if you use them a lot versus cheap die grinders are less runout in bearings, leading to far longer cutting disc life and less vibration.

Composite body tools won't get as cold, but my most powerful die grinder is a steel body Cleco one (forget model #) and it absolutely whales if you're cutting. Too fast for burrs if run full throttle though.

I find Dotco are easy to throttle the trigger versus Cleco.

Chicago Pneumatic is great as well, and with the advent of harbor freight stuff, sometimes it is confused with Central Pneumatic and one can exploit that confusion for a deal.

 

[Dave455]

Difficult to say which is generally the best performing as most makers have strong and weak areas. Some air tools are easy to make, some (die grinders) are harder to make really well, and you generally get what you pay for. Cheap grinders are never as smooth, and need more air for less power.

For die grinders, the best is probably Dotco. For that money I want the metal bodied version, but hard to fault.

Well “up there” are Desoutter. Originally a British firm, now bought out and made elsewhere, but still decent. Some tools, such as the pencil grinder, are the best bar none. I have two as I’d be lost without mine.

Shinano from Japan are good. Huge range of tools and I generally like what I’ve seen. Some of their tools are very compact.

Wild card are probably KuKen, also from Japan. Decent tools, very smooth, and reasonably priced.

 

[anndel]

SP, Astro, Snap-on, IR, Aircat and CP are what I have and use.

 

[alex71]

Atlas-Copco makes some fantastic industrial die grinders. 3M industrial grinders are also phenomenal. Also good are dotco, dynabrade, and the industrial lines from ARO, IR, and Chicago Pneumatic.