I need to do some fiberglass work and I looked at a Stanley DA Sander ($41) at Wal-mart. The box states 4 CFM @ 90 PSI. The CH model states 10 CFM.
I have a CH compressor with 20 gal tank. Probably pushes about 5 CFM @ 90 PSI.

The 4 CFM on the DA Sander seems kinda low base on other models I have looked at on the web. Will my little compressor run the Stanley DA Sander?

Not looking to run a body shop, debate tools brands, or compressors. This is a tool I will use for this one project and it will sit for a while.

Any help is appreciated.

 

You will find that a few DA manufacturers rate their machines conservatively, mostly for marketing reasons. That way they can sell to a larger market of homeowners that have the smaller air compressors . My little palm DA says 4 cfm on it too, but it will make my 240 volt 22 amp. 5 h.p. Speedaire with a 60 gallon vertical tank rated at 19 cfm at 90 psi, cycle frequently when I run it at max. ...


I think the 10 cfm CH is probaly a more true rating. I cannot say what the stanley would do on your system. If you buy it, make sure it has a warranty of satisfaction guaranteed, keep it clean, and return it for refund if your compressor can not keep up with it. You might also want to check in to the electric ones, if this is a one time deal. I believe if you are going to buy a lot of body shop style air tools , you will need to eventually upgrade your AC to a larger one. good luck. jmo

 

Industrial air tools are sometimes rated at "average" CFM. This assumes some minute-by-minute and hour-by-hour duty cycle for the tool, which is less than 100%. The duty cycle they assume for a DA sander might be 40%. In this circumstance, both the 4 CFM and 10 CFM numbers could both be true and both make sense.

The 4 CFM duty-cycle-rated number would be useful for a body shop, interested in running 4 bays and budgeting the size of the shop compressor, which runs all the bays. It is unlikely that all the bays will use the tool continuously, and the 4 CFM is average use over the whole day.

The 10 CFM continuous number would be the size you'd need if this were the only load on the compressor, and the compressor has a small tank, and you were planning to sand for several minutes at a time (as for a Corvette, or a boat, or some other large fiberglass object).

If you want to sand down a modest sized fiberglass patch, and plan to start and stop perhaps once a minute, then the "needed" CFM is somewhere in the middle of the 4 CFM and 10 CFM ratings. The 20 gallon tank can carry you for long enough that you can "overload" the compressor for such a workload.

Air tools are nice and light, very handy, but they are very energy inefficient. Even small die grinders and cut-off wheels guzzle air in the 10 CFM range. in my experience.

 

Weadjust.....I work with air tools alot in the cabinet shop and also workin on my cars....and really its hard to bet their performance and long life. But they use alot more air then what most of em say they do. If you dont use it much at a time or very often u should be fine. Meaning that you might only be able to sand for 10 to 15 mins then let the compressor catch up then go back to sanding. Then every 30 mins or so stop and let the compressor cool off. Used to have a 5 h.p. compressor and used a DA all day long but had to take breaks to let it cool off. Hope this helps.

 

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