Air Compresser

I'm wanting to get a gas powered air compresser if they make them that way and want to use an impact wrench with it,will any old compresser do that kind of work?

 

Campbell Hausfeld , Craftsman, and Ingersoll Rand all make gas powered compressors. I am sure there are others but that is all I can remember off of the top of my head. I would look for a compressor that had at least 15CMF at 100PSI, this will allow you some room to grow with out buying a new compressor.

 

you own a gas powered emglo, and you cant remember dewalt makes gas powered?

 

Looks like i'll be getting an electric because the gas is too pricey for my blood unless anyone knows one in the 200-300 range but I was just curious what does the "15CMF" stand for?

 

I forgot about Emglo, but I did remember DeWalt and decided that we were talking about larger non portable compressors that would run a whole shop with a minim of cycling. CFM stands for Cubic Foot Per Minute. That is the volume of air the compressor can move. Air tools require a cretin volume and pressure to work, the pressure and volume can vary greatly with each tool.

 

Well I think I found the compresser I want,but the impact wrench I want has a 1/2 inch drive and most of my sockets have a 3/8 drive,is there an adapter you can get for that?

 

Yes there is an adaptor, but I would buy a set of purpose built impact sockets. I have used regular socket on impact gun in the past, and more than half of the time I end up shattering the sockets.

 

Romod:

You cannot use regular chrome sockets with an impact gun. It is not safe. They are not rated for impact use and can shatter causing injury.

Get yourself two good sets of impact sockets in 1/2" drive to match your air tools. Sears sells good sets for about $50 a set (less when on sale) with a lifetime warranty.

You can get a 3/8" to 1/2" step up adapter if needed.

 

Thanks for the advise.I can't find any compressers with a '15CFM" ,the hardware stores i've been to have them up to 6or7 and that's it,the one i'm wanting to get is 5.5 at 90psi.The wrench I seen is rated at 5.4.Maybe it's the commercial one's that are rated higher.

 

You should note that there is a difference between displaced CFM and delivered CFM (also known as Actual CFM.) Many companies advertise their displaced CFM based on (you guessed it) the displacement of the compression method used (probably a piston for the models you are looking at.) This doesn't take into account the efficiency of the ENTIRE compressor (the motor, valves + seals, regulator, etc.)
You might have heard some posters talk about "the 50% rule" when selecting a compressor. This is to take into account loss of efficiency (resulting in the difference between displaced CFM and delivered CFM) and the fact that air tools themselves are typically rated at an AVERAGE air usage. Pick the tool you want to use with the highest air requirement (volume) and add 50% to that amount to arive at the advertised compressor CFM you should be shooting for.
There are other factors that can affect this decision also; For example you may have a tool that requires an insane amount of air, maybe 15CFM when running flat out, but you would only use it for a few seconds at a time. For the sake of argument lets say this is the mother of all impact wrenches Two factors within the compressor configuration will enable you to use an "intermittent" tool like this on a lower CFM compressor: stored pressure (measured in PSI), and stored volume. If this mother of all impact wrenches requires 90PSI and your compressor setup can maintain a maximum of 135PSI you have what people like to call "Bonus air". The amount of bonus air available is the difference between the maximum pressure stored (135PSI) and the tool requirement (90PSI) in conjunction with the volume of air stored. In a situation like this you may have enough "bonus air" to run a high CFM tool intermittently where the compressor has enough time to replenish the lost "bonus air". The key word here is intermittent use.

 

FWIW in this area Home Depot have a "Husky" branded (it's really a Campbell Hausfeld) compressor putting out 15.3 CFM @ 90 PSI. It has an 80 gallon tank and a maximum pressure of 145PSI. Cost is ~$800.

For half that price, both Lowes and Home Depot carry the VT6329 (http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=prod...99-1126-VT6329)
This puts out an advertised 10.3 CFM @ 90 PSI which will probably _just_ run something like a DA sander with an 8 CFM requirement.

Lowes used to have an 80 gallon model (cant remember number) that was similar to the Home Depot "Husky" brand I mentioned before, but I havn't seen it recently. They do also have this however: Similar to the above model but with a max pressure of 140 PSI and a gruntier pump putting out 13.5CFM @ 90PSI and it's $600. You would probably want an 80 gallon version of that though.

I did see a much more beastly "Husky" branded compressor in Home Depot for $1200. I think it was a two stage with max pressure of 175 PSI and it put out a whopping 27CFM @ 90PSI. 80 Gallon tank and it even included a mag starter which it needs.

 

I saw a Craftsman that puts out 9cfm@90psi and had a max of 175psi with
a 60 gallon tank for 549$. Ingersoll-Rand has a 60 gallon up right that puts out 18cfm@90psi and is also available from sears.

 

The Sears compressors are DeVilbiss made.

 

This one looks pretty grunty for the price:



15.5CFM @ 90PSI, same price as that Husky from HD that I mentioned but the difference is that this is a 2 stage and up to 175PSI. Nice. Joe_F you mentioned that DeVilbiss make the Craftsman branded compressors? What kind of quality are we talking about here? Can they match Ingersoll-Rand? This model:


Is similar in spec but doesn't quite have the same air output and costs $200 more. I notice that the detailed description for all of these say "Cylinder liner: Cast Iron".. This must be a mistake, we're talking about entirely cast iron cylinders on all of these models, right?

 

The IR are probably better. If the model # of the Sears compressor (You'd have to go to the store and actually look at the unit) starts with 919, it is DeVilbiss made.

I believe they are referring to the cylinder liner. It is cast iron.