Air compressors?

[Walt Krafft]

If you oversize for your needs, the electric draw may be more than you can supply.

 

[ELR LVR]

If you oversize for your needs, the electric draw may be more than you can supply.

True point, I ran wire specifically for my motors HP rating
You can also double up and run twice the wire for each leg as opposed to using larger gauge wire
calculate the run of wire and any losses for that distance
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I do have to unplug the compressor when I run the lathe

 

[Sniperhandle]

A premium 3-4k compressor isn't in the budget for what I need it for, but I am happy to know quality products still exist.

I'll poke around at something used, but I'm kinda skeeved out by unknown pressure vessels.

The models I'm looking at are approx 11.5 scfm @ 90psi - Good enough for sand blasting some actions and small parts?

Aaron,

You will hate a compressor that doesn't keep up with bead blasting, The first one I had was like the ones in Urbans posts he just posted, Those things will never keep up and will continue running and never shutting off for an hour while you are trying to get one rifle blasted.

Nothing wrong with being patient and finding a good 2 stage compressor with an 80 gallon storage tank used, I see them for sale around here every now and then, Sometimes for very good prices.

 

[ELR LVR]

Aaron,

You will hate a compressor that doesn't keep up with bead blasting, The first one I had was like the ones in Urbans posts he just posted, Those things will never keep up and will continue running and never shutting off for an hour while you are trying to get one rifle blasted.

Nothing wrong with being patient and finding a good 2 stage compressor with an 80 gallon storage tank used, I see them for sale around here every now and then, Sometimes for very good prices.

^^^ this
it literally sucks, to blast for 30 seconds, then have to wait 5 minutes for air to come back up
causing wayyyyyyy too much time to do what should be maybe a 5 minute job

 

[BuffaloBill]

It’s nice to have features like automatic drain valve, low oil sensing, and radiator to cool/help water condense. I also plumbed with copper for that same reason. Copper wasn’t so expensive when I did this. Being thermally conductive promotes cooling therefore condensation.

I put the compressor at the far end in a separate room, for noise as others have said. The compressor’s radiator or air-to air heat exchanger, together with the long run of copper tubing, does well to pull water out of the system. A lot more expensive than plastic but does offer that one advantage. I put vertical drops with ball valves to drain condensate, and even on late summer humid days have had no water trouble when using the blast cabinet, spraying Cerakote, or when powdercoating. Most of the water appears in the first drop, which is maybe 30ft from the compressor (where the blast cabinet resides). I sweated the joints with Bridgit solder and have not had any joint problems running about 160psi.

When I was shopping (about 12yrs ago) it was the Champion brand I wound up with; a 7.5hp vertical 80gal. It more than keeps up with a Scat Blast medium (1/4”) nozzle. One of these days I will try the larger nozzle size.

The portion of the shop where I put compressor is not heated. So in temps below about 10F, starting can be a problem. So I stuck a silicone flexible heater with thermocouple underneath, on the compressor’s crankcase. Closing that loop with a temperature control.

 

[hoz53]

Years ago I traded out some work for Campbell Hausfeld (just like the generic brands you’re finding today). 7.5HP, 80gal, 17cfm @ 90psi. I run two blast cabinets (not at the same time). Both are Trinco, one is a large 60” two station and the other is a 24” I use for small parts. This compressor does well with either.

One tip for your blast cabinet. Don’t run full bags of media in them. At most I use mby a gallon sized bucket (probably less) of media even in the big unit. It keeps the media flowing much better at the pickup and makes it much easier to swap out media when it’s shot or you want to change to a different media. Trying to use too much media causes it to pack in, cake up. Using as little as possible keeps it flowing well.

Like others my blast cabinets are outside under a walkway next to my shop. My buddy built out a separate blast/storage room with a fan blowing outward to the outside of the building when he’s blasting.
View attachment 1760753View attachment 1760754

do you need to heat a outside space with a compressor in it— thanks

 

[Aaron23]

A premium 3-4k compressor isn't in the budget for what I need it for, but I am happy to know quality products still exist.

I'll poke around at something used, but I'm kinda skeeved out by unknown pressure vessels.

The models I'm looking at are approx 11.5 scfm @ 90psi - Good enough for sand blasting some actions and small parts?

This one shop I worked at the guy had a secondary tank tied into his main compressor. Something like an 80gal tank on the main compressor and then the secondary tank was twice as big.

The volume of compressed air was so large that sometimes we would not hear the compressor even start to run until after working for several hours...

That stuff worked!

 

[Aaron23]

do you need to heat a outside space with a compressor in it— thanks

Depends on the compressor. Some will run fine in the cold while others may struggle on startup until they reach operating temp.

Many of the job site compressors (like you will see framers using) will run in ass biting cold without any issues at all.

 

[hoz53]

Depends on the compressor. Some will run fine in the cold while others may struggle on startup until they reach operating temp.

Many of the job site compressors (like you will see framers using) will run in ass biting cold without any issues at all.

thanks

 

[urbanrifleman]

I would still take two of those Facebook marketplace Campbell Hausfields in parallel on 2 30 amp circuits over spending $5k on a compressor for a small shop. I mean that's like 25 CFM at 90 psi... And you won't need the other one very often.

But hey, lots of guys buying $120k pickups to drive back and forth to work.

 

[tac284]

Arron, I don't know if you have a good repour with your local NAPA parts house but I went with a Carlyle about a year ago, it's just a small 29 gallon 2 HP because I have no room and don't require that much. It's the new terrible neon green color but I'm decent friends with our local manager so I wanted to got through them if I had any issues. If it matters to you it’s made in china but with an Italian-Made aluminum alloy pump they say.

Good luck!

 

[DShortt]

As mentioned above, look for some surplus capacity.

A blasting cabinet is just about like throwing an open hose on the ground and expecting the compressor to keep up and then some.

A small unit is going to irritate you and you'll wind-up replacing it, which will mean it'll be an expensive learning curve.

Kinda like 'cheap' firearms.

 

[WSnyder]

do you need to heat a outside space with a compressor in it— thanks

I'm way down in the SW so that's not a big issue but even when it does get cold ish and down into the 30's mine has been fine.

 

[ELR LVR]

I would still take two of those Facebook marketplace Campbell Hausfields in parallel on 2 30 amp circuits over spending $5k on a compressor for a small shop. I mean that's like 25 CFM at 90 psi... And you won't need the other one very often.

But hey, lots of guys buying $120k pickups to drive back and forth to work.

this is a good point
plus the extra one can simply be a standby/backup for when the main one breaks
giving you time to repair it.
vs being stuck with just one compressor
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I also don't see paying an optimum premium for the best of the best of the best - 3 hp compressor
when a guy can spend the same NEW for a 7.5 HP IR