Advice sought on air tool "deal"


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Old 02-03-17, 07:11 AM
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Advice sought on air tool "deal"

Hi all, my local walmart has a sale going on discontinued air tools that I "think" sound ok based on my googling, and since I've been wanting to buy a compressor and tools for a while I thought this might be a good way to start. Unfortunately, since I've never owned or even used air tools, I can't really get a good enough idea if it's worth it or if I should just hold off. I'm hoping some of you with actual experience could offer some advice.

They're selling hyundai branded products mostly:
- 3 gal 100psi compressor (model: HHC3GAK) for US$44
- gravity fed paint gun (can't read the model on the picture I took but says good for medium to high viscosity paint) for US$22
- Hyundai 25' air hose for US$10
- A Hyundai branded 2 in 1 nailer (18gauge) and a 16gauge nailer for about US$35 - $40 each.
They've also got a Powerit 6gal 125max psi compressor for US$57.

This sound ok, bad, or regular price wise? Also, I have a small paint job I'd really like to use the paint gun on (it's how I found the sale. I was actually looking for the airless electric sprayers. Need to paint a small one car garage that has all sorts of nooks and crannies due to some seriously annoyingly placed ducting), are small compressors like these worth it AT THIS PRICE RANGE? (I looked through the sticky so I understand that they're not good for continuous use but I'm on a limited budget and can't justify the 300 bucks the makita big bore would run).
Thanks!
 
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Old 02-03-17, 07:25 AM
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Paint guns require a lot of CFM and I doubt that compressor will keep up with a paint gun. Might be ok for spraying small items. Cup guns aren't suitable for spraying latex, an airless sprayer works better for that.

A small compressor like that is good for airing up tires, nail guns and tools that don't require a lot of CFM or run time. Painting, sanding and grinding require the most CFM.
 
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Old 02-03-17, 07:30 AM
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As Mark said, it takes a pretty big compressor to paint. I have a couple small ones which work just fine to take with me to install a door or something similar. I do not own a compressor big enough for painting, including the big one I leave in the garage.
 
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Old 02-03-17, 07:34 AM
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I've painted cars with a too small compressor before [but not that small - 1hp,11 gal] The main thing is having to wait and let the air compressor catch up, you can't just plug in the cup gun and spray with no consideration to the air supply.
 
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Old 02-03-17, 08:14 AM
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ok, so no go for painting.
How about as a general compressor and tool solution? Any good price wise? Nothing special?
 
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Old 02-03-17, 09:43 AM
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It's ok for a starter.

My first was a 6 gallon Porter Cable oilless compressor but it was so loud I had to leave the garage when it cycled. I eventually got rid of it. My two biggest compressors now are oiled.
 
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Old 02-03-17, 09:46 AM
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It has an attractive price but I wouldn't expect it to last a long time.
As SS mentioned oil less compressors are noisy!!
 
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Old 02-03-17, 09:55 AM
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You state it's a gravity fed gun so that would indicate a HVLP which is a different animal that the older siphon style guns so it may work.

But, you mention painting a garage. A spray gun is useless, you would have to thin the paint down so far it would be like spraying water color.

Even the airless sprayers are a huge mess. The only time I ever used one was to paint my joists in the finished basement, not looking forward to ever doing that again.

Just break out the brush and roller!
 
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Old 02-03-17, 10:02 AM
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Just break out the brush and roller!
Good point! I own 2 airless pumps but rarely spray interiors unless it's new construction. On repaints the cover up and clean up will generally negate any time saved.

I have several of the air conversion HVLP guns but they still require a good bit of CFM.
 
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Old 02-03-17, 01:16 PM
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I know that the clean up using a sprayer is a pain but I really was hoping to avoid using roller. There's pipes and wires tacked all over the place not counting the ridiculous number of bulkheads due to ducting in the roof. Oh well.
Still curious about if it's worth leaping in at these prices or if they're just so-so (ignoring the painting).
 
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Old 02-04-17, 02:36 AM
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IMO the biggest thing that compressor has going for it is the price. My little compressor is an oiled Craftsman that I bought new over 30 yrs ago. While it looks rough, it works well. I would not expect that type of service out of an oil less compressor.

Even when spraying [wood/drywall] with an airless it is usually beneficial to back roll the sprayed on coating to work it into the substrate.
 
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Old 02-04-17, 03:21 AM
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They're selling hyundai branded products mostly:
- 3 gal 100psi compressor (model: HHC3GAK) for US$44
I dont know anything about this brand but I bought a small 1 gal, 1hp Senaco compressor that I use in the house for trim/brad/finish nailing. It's light and easy to carry around and I paid about $90.

It's too small to do anything big, would take a life time to fill a tire, but that is what the garage 60 gal, 5hp is for.

It's a deal only if it fulfills your needs!
 
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Old 02-04-17, 05:13 AM
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The science of compressed air is much more complicated than this, but, for purposes of this conversation, the three main things that you want to look at in an air compressor are tank size, pressure, and cfm. And, although I listed it last, cfm (cubic feet per minute) is the first thing that I would look at. For the compressor, cfm is the volume of compressed air that it will provide, and, for the tool, cfm is the volume of air that it will consume. The air compressor you listed provides .5 cfm at 40 psi and .4 cfm at 90 psi. I don't know what the rating is for the cfm of the nailer you listed, and it may not be listed any place, so you may need to look at similar tools in other brands, but I do know the tool is going to need more than this compressor will provide. Would it fire a nail? Sure. But it might be a minuite or more before it would fire another one. So the bottom line is, although there is a place for this size compressor, it's not suitable for air tools.
 
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Old 02-04-17, 05:51 AM
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One consideration that has not been mentioned is duty cycle.
Spray painting generally uses a lot of air and an undersized compressor would run continuously and would quickly wear out.
The manuals for some cheap compressors will state the running time per hour.

IMO the only thing that an inexpensive compressor would be good for is occasionally filling a tire, busting a couple of nuts loose or driving a few nails with a brad nailer.
Someone mentioned a noisy Porter Cable oil-less compressor and I suspect it was purchased at a very low price point.
I have one that I bought with a framing nailer at a little over $400.00 for the compressor alone.
It is 6 cfm@90 psi, is fairly quiet and can run all day.
Bottom line is you get what you pay for.

If you want to paint something a Wagner or similar brand portable airless sprayer would give you very good service for the money and they love latex paint.
You only need to clean it properly for it to last.
 
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Old 02-04-17, 05:52 AM
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Here's a chart showing about how many CFM's it take to power air tools.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...ir-compressors
 
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Old 02-04-17, 06:19 AM
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When I'm removing lugnuts with a rattle gun I still have to wait for the compressor to fully re-fill the tank (for max pressure) before I can budge the tough ones. That's with a 20gal 2HP 7cfm@90 compressor. A .4cfm would just be frustrating and time-consuming rather than a time-saver.
 
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Old 02-04-17, 09:37 AM
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Sometimes the failure of the gun to loosen stubborn lugs is the gun's fault. I have a cheap Harbor Freight impact that I bought for $12 about 35 yrs ago. It still works good but has never been great at breaking loose real stubborn nuts ..... but my breaker bar will take care of those occasional times. I usually use my 6.5 hp, 60 gal compressor so it's not a CFM issue.

I would think the little compressor being discussed would do ok with a nail gun as you usually don't nail non stop. I don't know how well it would do with an impact.
 
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Old 02-10-17, 08:28 PM
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After reading the advice and going back and re-checking the specs on everything I've decided against it. The CFM info was the clincher. It was a no go at all. Going to hold off and get proper everything once I actually need it.
Thanks all!
 
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Old 02-10-17, 09:56 PM
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Very wise decision, Captain! In my opinion that whole "deal" reeked. I spent $100 on my first pneumatic nailer, a Stanley brad nailer.

Short story concerning air compressor output. I was looking for an air-powered vacuum cleaner that had lots of "suck" power to use in cleaning industrial boilers. Talking with one sales rep he tried to steer me towards an electric model by stating the air-powered unit used lots of air, upwards of 150 cubic feet per minute. I told him I had about 21,000 CFM of compressors on my air supply and that shut him up. That was the most powerful vacuum I have ever used.
 
 

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