I want to purchase air compressor for rebuilding and painting my F100s. Only have between $300 $400 to spend. Can I do better than this? I am totally clueless as which brand to buy and how many HP and tank size it should be. I was told that I need at least 90psi for painting. I want to to run air tools and spray gun. I would like it to be electric motor, preferably 120v but could be 240v. I am considering a Craftsman 175psi Max 25gal vertical tank.

I am open to all suggestions.... thanks

 

If it's the black "professional" tank, that is what I use. I do not do any spary painting, but this one works well with air tools. To me it was worth the price. Fortunately I did get it on sale when I bought it.

 

Have you had the "Pro 175" for very long? Just wondering how dependable it is....

 

I have had it for a couple of years. It is not used everyday or even close to it, but it stays in my shed with all temps and no problem whenever I use it. The biggest pain is the drain plug always sticks. I have to get pliers to open or close it. This is to be expected as it is not used daily.

 

I see you have painting in your restore list , so that gives you a base to start. There are a lot of comp's out there in the 300 -440 buck range that will put out the "pressure" but not the cfm ( cubic ft per min) that spray guns require. Size your comp to the cfm requirement of the spray gun you will be buying. Sharp makes some good 9cfm hvlp guns. Spraying requires a lot of volume of air, if the cfm and tank size is not adequate, your pressure to the air cap on the gun will fluctuate, causing heavy and light spray patterns as the air volume cycles up and down. A good paint job requires a steady non- fluctuating pressure/volumed supply of clean , dry air.
I learned you can never have to much air. When a comp has to run hard to keep up with a paint gun, it creates too much hot air, which cools, condenses in to water in your airlines, which is BAD for paint. My air tools like my finish DA sander says it uses 4 cfm, but when I sand a lot , it keeps my 5hp quad cyl 240 volt unit 19 cfm @90psi, that has a 60 gal tank , humpin' when I sand out my truck panels. So short answer, size your comp to the maximum cfm required by your tools. Believe me I know, budgets are hard to keep in line, but a inadequate air comp will be a constant source of agitation. Pressure is easy to get, its the cfm, that counts on spray/air tools, good luck on your projects

 

Thanks, Greg, for the great input....I will definitely take the cfm volume into account. The paint jobs I plan at this time do not have to be the greatest, but I do want a nice looking daily driver.

I am sure FTE members will be hearing from me again.

 

I was going to buy that black 175psi Professional compressor, but the sales rep. pointed out that i cannot paint with it because of the cfms so i went with the single stage 33 gal. vertical 150 psi compressor, i got 3 free tools with it and it came out to about $250, well worth it.

Brad

 

That's interesting, because the owners manual says you can paint with it. It does not list the CFM in the manual and I have not looked at the outside of the compressor yet to see if it is listed there.

 

Kingfish, might it depend on the type of painting one is doing, household or automotive?

I have done a little research based on Greg's info. Most spray guns I have looked at seem to require 7.0 to 9.0+ cfm. The Pro175 comp only supplies 5.6cfm @ 40psi and 5.1cfm @ 90psi.

Hmmmmmmmmmm???? ;o( What am I to do? A lil more research is in order......

 

In the owners manual it list regular spary gun, auto sparay gun and HVLP(?) spray gun as usable

 

I looked at the specs online and saw what you were talking about. There is a 25 gal 6hp that is actually $10.00 cheaper that looks like it would work. Other than that, you will probably have to go with a stationary model.

 

You can add second large air storage tank in series with the air compressor (so when its filling it fills both) this will allow you to use more air before the compressor has to kick on to refill the tank(s).

You can spray with smaller compressors, just work in small sections, like a fender or door. Keep the areas small so the compressor can keep up. WHen you lay the color is the problem, difference in air pressure will cause the color to vary slightly. =( Invest in a good regulator and keep a eye on line prssure when you spray.


I would look for a Screw type compressor, its whats in my shop. They are going to be expensive but its sortof like a Supercharger powered by a electric motor filling a air tank. We have had two body men using air and me priming/painting with no problems so far.

Have you considered Used compressors?

 

I looked for some time when i bought my compressor and a couple things to keep in mind are
(1) That the " oil free" compressors are one piece,run at rpm usually about 2500 rpm.
(2) Belt driven types run at a much lower speed usually about 900 and if one part ever wears out or breaks it is very easy to find replace (for example the motor or pump).
I ended up buying a 2 cylinder 2 stage (simular to the craftsman model 19541 which is $389.99).the craftsman puts out 6.8 cfm @ 90 psi and depending what type of paint gun you buy it should be strong enough.(from my expierence a lot of the current hvlp guns like about 2 bars or 30 psi at the gun which translates to about 60 at the tank and like greg said about 9 cfm).I would also suggest that you use a 3/8" Id hose this will let the air flow better. I use a satajet 2000 hvlp paint gun and have painted a couple of cars using my compressor with no problem.

 

That 25 gallon Craftsman pro compressor won't put out near the CFM's you need to paint. My cheaper 30 gallon Craftsman red compressor puts out a little more CFM's but less pressure and I wouldn't want to try to paint with it except panel by panel...

 

Check out the specs on one Craftsman web site and not Sears.com one. It tell how the two stage motor makes up for the low CFMs

Yes I know this post is late.

but Hey!