Hello and yet another Compressor question

[Madc]

Hello everyone,
Recent lurker, first post. 40yr old, married father of 4! kids, homeowner pretty handy interested in bikes, motorcycles, trucks, cars, and tools and i feel like i've found home with this site!
First a collective Thank You to everyone that contributes- amazing, amazing website and forum. Found Garage Journal while looking for a '72 Porsche 911! Little did I know I would spend the next three months on this site daily (and reading more entire threads than I'm willing to admit). In that time I have found myself looking for and buying (old craftsman power tools, another motorcycle, cabinets, workbenches, tools at garagesales, etc. and agonizing over every decision) You are all to thank and BLAME!
Plan on starting a build thread for my modest suburban 2-car, but had a question on compressors. For my needs, some air tools, small basting cabinet, airing tires i've settled on three models and would very much appreciate (and respect) member opinions. Models are:
Ingersoll Rand Garage mate 2hp/20gal/5.5cfm@90psi-$475
Craftsman Prof 1.9hp/27gal/5.8cfm@90psi-$450
Kobalt 30gal 1.6hp/5.3cfm@90psi-$450
-I have an irrational attraction to the IR name brand, as well as an irrational loyalty to Craftsman.
Look forward to hearing experiences and opinions- and thank you all again for creating an unbelievable community.
-MADC

 

[holdover]

welcome aboard.. I have the Husky sold at HD, actually have two. It is a 60 Gal 10+cfm @90. When I purchased it 3 yrs ago I paid 449. This summer they were doing some rebranding and I purchased # 2 for 339.00. I have them set up so they can both feed the line or only one, and I can rotate which one. For the money it would be hard to beat and when you use air tools that 60 gal tank is going to come in handy. I believe they are made by CH and now sell for 469 or so. For years I had a small compressor with a small tank and was always waiting for the pressure to come up, no more!

 

[Tre900]

Okay, I'm pretty new to this site so I'm sure more senior folks will come in with their ideas shortly but I can tell you my experince with a blast cabinet is this:

I wouldn't get one/building one with any of those three compressors. Everything else is a go!

I built a blasting cab. out of a 55 Gal barrel and ran it using a 26 gal (5cfh) Craftsman. It sucked. I thought "maybe I could just used Soda media"...it got better but then I moved to a 60 Gal Camp. Haus 9 CFM and saw the difference. Trouble is: Its still running ALL THE TIME!

Take blasting off your list. and you will be good to do. The time and engergy spent on it would be better just taking your few items to a shop and getting them done.

Just my opinon. Lets see what the masses say.

(welcome to the board...it kicks a$$ don't it?)

Tre900

 

[rohartman]

Hello madc,
Same here, new to site, I was searching engine test stands and ended up it, been here ever since . I too have read more entire threads than I'm willing to admit!
I have a Brother n law who has a 72 911s that I'm always doing work on it for him, he bought it in 1976! very cool car.

Ok air compressors, I would buy one with a little more cfm@90psi if you are planning to use the small basting cabinet very much. I have a 60 Gallon Vertical Tank with oil Lube/ 10.3 scfm@90psi and it can't keep up with my small cabinet.

Best Regards, Olaf

 

[Steevo]

You really need a minimum of 10~12CFM @ 90psi to run a blast cabinet, or you'll get 10 seconds of good blasting, stop and wait for two or three minutes of pumping back up, then another 10 seconds of good blasting, etc. As the pressure in that small tank depletes, your media will barely come out of the gun due to loss of air flow. The small pump is incapable of keeping up with the CFM needs of the blast gun, so as soon as the tank pressure falls below 90psi it falls off rapidly.

 

[ford33]

I second the need for a larger compressor. The smaller models you have will work for tools that cycle on-off frequently such as nail guns but you will need more volume and CFM to operate air grinders and a blast cabinet.

I suggest you checkout Sears, HD and Lowe's sales and (craigslist with some reservations about conditon of the used compressor).

 

[Madc]

Thank you all for the replys and suggestions- please keep them coming. Many of you confirmed my fear/thoughts on the bigger compressors especially for blasting. I was hoping to hear some good results or experiences from one of those units running small blast cabinet like the HF one. Some of my concerns (I have to think shared by others as well) are the space even the 60gal Kobalt occupies in my small space- (great suggestion btw), only 110v power, as well as beeing a bit sheepish about buying a large unit for my modest use.

Thank you agin for the replys.
MADC

 

[SGKent]

I have one of those Craftsman dual piston 5hp. Now they call them 2hp. Mine puts out 7.85 at 90 or something like that when running on 240V. Not nearly enough for a blast cabinet. I have two in parallel to get the job done.

You will need either two of them or a bigger single compressor that you cannot get at Sears.

 

[jrsulo]

Craigslist.....the bigger the better !!!!!