Air compressor for Bendpak RJ-45 rolling jack

[swedish_chef]

Looking for recommendations for an air compressor. I don't use any air tools right now (all batteries), but need one to run the safety lock release on my Bendpak HD-9 lift and operate the Bendpak RJ-45 rolling jack. My little portable Costco toy air compressor is enough to run the release on the lift, but I'm going to need more power to run the jack.

The Bendpak manual says 20 cfm @ 100 psi, which seems insanely high for what the jack does. The Bendpak web page says 10-20 cfm @ 125 psi. I've searched other posts and some suggest it will work with as little as a 21 gal 4.7 cfm unit. Can anyone comment on their experiences and how the jack performs depending on how much air it has available? I'm not running a commercial shop, so I'm not concerned about it running at max-speed, but I don't want to put a weight on it within its specs and have it not be able to lift it.

Thanks!

 

[larry_g]

The pressure does the lifting and the CFM's are how fast it lifts. So if you have a small pancake compressor start with that. If you find it to slow then move up the HP range.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[ahab]

I dunno if its any help... but it might be a good reference...

A 12 ton air/hydraulic jack takes all of my 4 gallon 2 HP 4.3 CFM compressor.

 

[swedish_chef]

The pressure does the lifting and the CFM's are how fast it lifts. So if you have a small pancake compressor start with that. If you find it to slow then move up the HP range.

I dunno if its any help... but it might be a good reference...

A 12 ton air/hydraulic jack takes all of my 4 gallon 2 HP 4.3 CFM compressor.

Thanks guys. I'll start out with my small compressor and see how it goes. If it is intolerably slow I'll move to something larger.