Lucid Moments
Well-known member
I will be honest this thread is largely theoretical for me as I am not likely to change my current set up, but I am curious. Also not likely does not mean absolutely not.
My shop is purely for hobby work, mostly automotive. I do some amateur racing and work on my own cars and have some friends that I let use my space to work on their stuff too sometimes.
I am one of the people who recently got the Astro Thor 1/2" impact and watching The Torque Test Channel makes me wonder what I could do to maximize the air flow to the tool without compromising the usability of my current setup. My current setup is a 60gal 3.7hp compressor in a closet in one corner of my 60'W X 50'D shop. 3/4" Maxline distributes the air to 4 drops. 1 drop roughly in the middle of each wall. I have no thoughts about changing any of the preceding. I have a single regulator/filter combo very shortly out of the compressor, but for now it is set at max so it may get changed to just a filter but I don't think I will bother.
Here comes what I am curious about. In the middle of each of the 60' walls I have a 50' 3/8" hose reel. With that I can reach the vast majority of the shop. The question is how much air flow would I gain by changing out the 50' reels to 1/2" hose probably adapting down to 3/8" hose for the last 5 feet or so. The main complaint I have heard about 1/2" hose is that it is heavy and not as flexible as 3/8". So my idea is that the 5' section of 3/8 would mitigate some of the weight and inflexibility of a 1/2" hose without costing me too much flow.
Probably not worth it, particularly as I am not in the rust belt, but I find it to be an interesting idea to think about.
My shop is purely for hobby work, mostly automotive. I do some amateur racing and work on my own cars and have some friends that I let use my space to work on their stuff too sometimes.
I am one of the people who recently got the Astro Thor 1/2" impact and watching The Torque Test Channel makes me wonder what I could do to maximize the air flow to the tool without compromising the usability of my current setup. My current setup is a 60gal 3.7hp compressor in a closet in one corner of my 60'W X 50'D shop. 3/4" Maxline distributes the air to 4 drops. 1 drop roughly in the middle of each wall. I have no thoughts about changing any of the preceding. I have a single regulator/filter combo very shortly out of the compressor, but for now it is set at max so it may get changed to just a filter but I don't think I will bother.
Here comes what I am curious about. In the middle of each of the 60' walls I have a 50' 3/8" hose reel. With that I can reach the vast majority of the shop. The question is how much air flow would I gain by changing out the 50' reels to 1/2" hose probably adapting down to 3/8" hose for the last 5 feet or so. The main complaint I have heard about 1/2" hose is that it is heavy and not as flexible as 3/8". So my idea is that the 5' section of 3/8 would mitigate some of the weight and inflexibility of a 1/2" hose without costing me too much flow.
Probably not worth it, particularly as I am not in the rust belt, but I find it to be an interesting idea to think about.