Hi, am thinking about getting the Kobalt 60 gal compressor from Lowes. I've checked other compressors and they don't put out the CFM's that this one does and for $499 it's a pretty nice price. Also, if I open a Lowes account I get 10% off and 6 months no interest (that's a tempting deal). I was thinking about combining this with a Lincoln welder purchase and taking advantage of the 10% off and 6 months no interest.

Does anyone have this compressor and if so what's your opinions? I am on a budget (who isn't...haha) and I'm trying to get my major tools in order to get my 54 F100 project started in January so I'm trying to get the most for my money without breaking the bank or my wife breaking me (women just don't understand...it's a guy thing...haha). I have read mostly good so far about this by just doing seaches on the net but wanted to come to the experts.

As always...Thanks in advance!

Kobalt 60 gal, 7 hp peak
13.3 SCFM @ 90 psi
12,000 hour pump life
High output cast iron pump design
3-year warranty on cast iron pump

 

That looks like a decent one, especially for the price. Here are the goods/others that I see:

Goods:
Oil lubed = not so loud and more longevity
7 peak HP (probably closer to 5 hp running)
13 CFM
60 gal tank
$500 price

Others:
Looks like a single stage pump vs. two stage, which is probably why it only puts out 13 CFM with a 5-7hp motor. My two stage compressor puts out just over 17 with the same size motor, but cost an extra $200. 13CFM might slow down your sandblasting a bit, but I imagine it will be good for most other uses.

Give some thought to your installation, as well. Especially water traps and enough copper pipe to help cool the air down and condense out some moisture. If you come straight off the compressor, water will form in your tool as the hot compressed air rapidly expands and cools. That will be irritating with regular tools, but will ruin your day trying to sandblast or paint.

My air runs through about 50 feet of 3/4 inch copper water pipe running around the walls of my garage before it goes through a series of filters and ends up at a drop into the air hose. You'll be amazed how much water develops in a short time inside your tank and pipes if it's humid outside. You need to build in ways to get the water out other than blow it through your tools. Make the pipe slope downwards a bit to allow the water to run downhill and then make a couple T's out of the main line that drop down to a ball valve that serves as a water dump point. Give the final bit of pipe a water dump, then a short riser section that goes up a couple feet, then a drop down to your filters and regulator. That should keep most water out of your tools.

Final thought: Don't use PVC for piping...it's dangerous because when it fails, it fails explosively vs. copper that just tears. Also PVC doesn't suck as much heat out of the air as copper.

Hope that helps!

 

My two cents.

That one will do a very good job for impact wrenches, air chisel, air drill, most paint guns etc. It will also do a marginally acceptable job for a DA sander or a cutoff wheel. (Meaning you have to wait and let it catch back up). It really won't run a media blaster at all (but will kinda work if you don't mnd the compressor getting very hot from continuous duty).

It's nearly as powerful as mine. I get annoyed with it, but I understand the budget thing. An entry level two stage is almost double the price.

 

Hello,

You should get the best compressor you can afford, there is no such thing as too much air. I would buy a two stage if I were you. I thought about buying that Kobalt 80 2 stage that lowes sells, but I did not have the room for it. So I brought a 60 gallon 2 stage and I love it. Its a Belaire 220 volt, 60 gallon, 2 stage and I don't know I live without it. This thing is quiet man I can talk on the phone while its running and I run anything I need to and not have to wait on the compressor to catch up. I paid 765.00 for mine and free shipping. It was the best money I ever spent. Like I said I would have brought the 80 gallon kobalt but I just did not have the room in my shop and did not want to put it outside.

I'm by no means rich, but I don't like buying things that make me mad.lol So I will pay a little more for good tools and let my check book suffer for a little while.lol

 

I think my two stage oil lubed Devilbiss/Sears Craftsman pro model cost about $600 on sale. Regularly runs around $800. I've found that the 17 cfm/5.5hp/80gal system runs a cheap suction media blaster setup in my blast cabinet just fine. Never had any moisture or clogging in the blast media, but I have sprayed large amounts of water from the three water drops whenever I purge the system.

That said, I'd believe 'fenders if he says 13cfm isn't enough.

Media blasting is one of the coolest things you can do with a compressor.

 

It's not that it won't do it, but it is annoying. Process goes a little something like this.......... Pumps up to 125#. You start blasting and it works wonderful for a half a minute. Then it works just OK for several minutes more. Then you let it pump back up and repeat process. Compressor never rests. Do this about three times and the compressor is getting real warm. It will do this for an hour or two, but it can't be good for it. The heat starts making lots of water, but my separator does catch it. I have blasted lots of body panels. It does work, I blasted 75% of my truck. And $600 is cheap for a two stage. There isn't any doubt whether I would pay that if I made the choice over. They were $800 when I made the decision, and my wage was a lot less then too so that came into the equation. And did I mention I also needed 10K worth af Effie parts at the time too? Oh, and I am a tight **** too.

BTW, my compressor is rated at 14.0 CFM

 

mkabwe, is this the one you have?BELAIRE 5 HP 220V/1 60V 2 STAGE AIR COMPRESSOR
Item ID: PBE 9BA 216V
Weight: 300.00 LBS
List Price: $ 1,148.85
Your Price: $ 999.00
You save: $ 149.85

 

The Kobalt compressor is the same one Home Depot sells as the Husky Pro. They are both made by Cambell Hausfeld. HD has them on sale now for $399. I have the 60 gal model and believe me, it will not hold up to sandblasting. I have had 2 pump failures in the 1-1/2 years since I bought mine. I'm waiting on the tech to bring me a new one now. I had an old Ingersol Rand that I bought used and used it for 15 years before a valve gave out in the pump. I wish I had kept that pump and had it rebuilt instead of buying this POS.

Jeff

 

I have the Husky Pro and it does good job for most things. I used the 80# media blaster blaster from Harbor Freight, but had to use the smaller ceramic nozzles and changed them often. I did stay mad the whole time I used it..could have been the sand in my ears causing it though.

When you buy air tools you will need to pay a little extra and get better quality and lower cfm tools. Painting, using a compliant gun @ 11-12 CFM was no problem on an full paint job. If I had the money to spare, I would have gotten the two stage but other things were more demanding at the time.

 

I'm thinking that I wont be doing much sandblasting because I don't have anywhere to do it. How do you all sand blast in a neighborhood situation? Is sandblasting noisy? Are you guys just doing small parts or are we talking beds and cabs? I was really planning to farm that out.

By the way I did see a 80gal IR at Sams that put out something like 16 or 17 cfm's. I didn't pay much attention because the price of $799 was twice what I planned on spending...now maybe that's a pretty nice deal.

 

Sandblasting could be done in most neighborhoods. Spray painting, air chiseling, impact wrenches and cutoff tools are far more offensive.

And I know I just bashed my single stage Devilbiss, but I will say it has taken quite a beating for five years. It is probably one of the better low buch compressors. Looks like it is better than most of the Campbell Hausfields I see for sale.

 

Lots of guys sandblast right in their driveway or backyard. The problem is the mess it creates...the media goes everywhere, and finds it's way into every part of your body.

When I was talking about sand blasting, I was really talking about blasting things inside a media cabinet. That keeps the mess contained. My cabinet is a cube roughly 4x4x4 feet, modeled loosely on the plans from "Earls World" on FTE. (http://www.clubfte.com/users/earl/) It's been a big hit among the neighbors and has blasted wheels, yard furniture, toys, and even some truck parts here and there. Using aluminum oxide media and a suction blast gun, it strips rust and paint aggressively and leaves a pristine metal surface. You will never get results even close to that with a wire brush. I think it is an indispensible tool for any kind of restoration work.

For the really big stuff (fenders, frame, cab, etc) most guys recommend taking it someplace and getting it done. The amount of hassle and mess saved seems to be worth the bucks.

 

TP tool site Low
there is another option that hasn't been mentioned... find a good "old" compressor. Lots of folks (read businesses) trade up or go out of business. I found a Quincy 310 from a dee-vorce sale. Probably 30 years old with an 80 gallon horizontal tank...300 bucks.

It's cast iron, 2 stage with a 5 h.p. motor. It's max pressure is 500 psi but loafs at 150-175, turns around 800 rpm and gives me around 19-20 cfm at 150psi.. It's big and ugly and takes up about 10 feet of shop real estate.. but I wouldn't take two Kobalts dragging a CH for it. The old Leeson motor fell over after about three years and had to replace it...went with a ind grade Dayton and it was like new and it was probably 50 pounds lighter (the Leeson had a serious cast iron case)

Check around with some commercial air pump dealers, you might be able to find the pump and tank and controls at different places and build a heck of a machine for less $$$$.. besides?? you've building something and that's always fun !!

I'm sure you're aware that 5hp is gonna require 220volt...so figure that in your final equation... at start up it gonna lean on a 40-50 amp breaker pretty hard.

Whatever you do I agree... save your $$$ and go two stage... more air for the dollar... basically two stage gives you 4 cfm for each 1hp of drive so a 5 horse motor will give you 20 cfm +/-.

there's been lots of talk lately about "inter" and "after" coolers on one of the welding boards I frequest... things as simple as spooling 50 feet of 1/2" copper tubing in a 30 gallon plastic bucket and covering it with water.. for a precooler which fits between the pump output and the tank.. they've also added from50 to 80 feet of vertical copper across the shop wall (in 10' sticks) with the input and output in the center of the first and last stick and drains in the bottom of each loop... gives very dry air at the end. you can check the Hobart site hobart board and search for "passive air dryer" .

The TP equipment site has a great plumbing plan with header and drops and drain diagrams that you can build with copper or screw pipe pretty cheap...

Just ideas worth considering

John

here's the full link, but I don't know if the board will let me post it...

passive air dryer

tp tool site

 

I was faced with the same dilemma for the past couple years, also. I looked at new comps. for quite awhile, but then decided to find used. It's cheaper in the end to replace parts, than to buy new altogether....as long as the tank isn't rusted thru. I eventually found a "blackmax" for $300.00 that a guy had in a garage fire. Only thing wrong was the power cord was burnt off.(fire wasn't big)

If you decide on getting the one your looking at, you can effectively "get by" with it, maybe even buying a 2 stage 80 gal. down the road, plumb the 2 together for 140 gal. of air and have a spare engine and pump to boot. But if you only plan on buying ONE for a very long time, I'd wait til a 2 stage comes along. My 2 cents.

 

Well, looks like your guys are talking me into the 2 stage. I for one hate to replace later because I didn't do it right the first time. I think I will cut some costs somewhere else, if that's possible continuing with the do it right the first time theme. I'm going to take a little more time and do some more shopping around. I have also been looking at www.craigslist.com (great place to find things) and have barely missed out on some good tools. You have to be quick on there because the deals can be great but they go fast. I'll keep looking and see what I can come up with.