compressor, for home, which one?
Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,848
Likes: 1
From: Kentucky
I will assume the request for a 70 standard cubic feet per minute is a typo ?
That is a LOT of air usage, mostly just found in industrial applications. For the home diyer 12-20 scfm is a good all round unit. When your shop needs require more than 20 cfm you will find the costs go up fast for the A/C's that can produce those higher cfm's...
I have a vertical 60 gallon 5hp 220volt, 22amp speedair 19cfm at 90psi, twin cast iron cylinder unit in my shop. Cost was 800 dollars plus piping , elec, etc. I painted my truck with a Sata NR2000 paint gun, which is the air hog of HVLP paint guns requiring 15 cfm of air. Never had a low air problem. There are good guns out here now that will operate on 12 cfm easily..
Size your air compressor to be just above your tools largest cfm requirements somewhat. Bigger is better is the rule for A/C's, but as with most man toys, bigger means more bucks. A sandblaster will be the most cfm hungry tool used for the diyer, because basically you are just opening the air tank hose wide open. When I was using my five gallon SB, it worked my AC unit pretty good , but it kept up with the air demand fine without overheating. Long board air files. DA sanders, orbitals, die grinders are rated as low as 4 cfm, but I found out in reality they suck more like 10 cfm at full out use...
All that said , in my opinion I believe the budget minded home diyer could live with a 12 -19 cfm true 5hp 60 gallon tank (at least 22 amp full line current draw rating on that 5HP , many A/C manufacturers are fluffing up the true HP specs on their motors ) . Lowes /Home Depot carry some decent 300- 500 dollar units. To get the top quality long life gutsy ones for bigger demands, you will need to go to the industrial supply stores. jmo good luck
That is a LOT of air usage, mostly just found in industrial applications. For the home diyer 12-20 scfm is a good all round unit. When your shop needs require more than 20 cfm you will find the costs go up fast for the A/C's that can produce those higher cfm's...
I have a vertical 60 gallon 5hp 220volt, 22amp speedair 19cfm at 90psi, twin cast iron cylinder unit in my shop. Cost was 800 dollars plus piping , elec, etc. I painted my truck with a Sata NR2000 paint gun, which is the air hog of HVLP paint guns requiring 15 cfm of air. Never had a low air problem. There are good guns out here now that will operate on 12 cfm easily..
Size your air compressor to be just above your tools largest cfm requirements somewhat. Bigger is better is the rule for A/C's, but as with most man toys, bigger means more bucks. A sandblaster will be the most cfm hungry tool used for the diyer, because basically you are just opening the air tank hose wide open. When I was using my five gallon SB, it worked my AC unit pretty good , but it kept up with the air demand fine without overheating. Long board air files. DA sanders, orbitals, die grinders are rated as low as 4 cfm, but I found out in reality they suck more like 10 cfm at full out use...
All that said , in my opinion I believe the budget minded home diyer could live with a 12 -19 cfm true 5hp 60 gallon tank (at least 22 amp full line current draw rating on that 5HP , many A/C manufacturers are fluffing up the true HP specs on their motors ) . Lowes /Home Depot carry some decent 300- 500 dollar units. To get the top quality long life gutsy ones for bigger demands, you will need to go to the industrial supply stores. jmo good luck
Last edited by Greg 79 f150; Sep 2, 2006 at 06:41 AM.
