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Cheap Air Compressor

1K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  weirdbeard 
#1 ·
I will be redoing the suspension on my Nova this winter and I'm looking into getting an impact gun. While gettin the oil changed on my minivan(winter vehicle, I fill it with kids and get paid $15 a week just to drive them to school. Pays my gas.) I noticed an air compressor they had on sale.

http://www.colemanpowermate.com/compressors/cl0502713.shtml

Thats the one it was. It was regular $399CDN and they only wanted $300 for it.


What do you think? 7CFM @ 40PSI seems fairly decent to me. Most impacts I've seen only need 5.2CFM at 40PSI.

Would this be a good air compressor to get?

Things I may need it for:
Impact
Air Rachet
Sand Blaster

thats pretty much it other then the basic filling tires with air.
 
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#2 ·
I would say that will do the job my buddy has a Craftsman just about that same size and it was about 270-280 bucks and he is using it for the things you listed i have a big 60 gallon that is not hooked up! So im using a much smaller one and the only thing i haven't been Abel to run very well is a cut off tool.
 
#4 ·
topdogger said:
I will be redoing the suspension on my Nova this winter and I'm looking into getting an impact gun. While gettin the oil changed on my minivan(winter vehicle, I fill it with kids and get paid $15 a week just to drive them to school. Pays my gas.) I noticed an air compressor they had on sale.

http://www.colemanpowermate.com/compressors/cl0502713.shtml

Thats the one it was. It was regular $399CDN and they only wanted $300 for it.


What do you think? 7CFM @ 40PSI seems fairly decent to me. Most impacts I've seen only need 5.2CFM at 40PSI.

Would this be a good air compressor to get?

Things I may need it for:
Impact
Air Rachet
Sand Blaster

thats pretty much it other then the basic filling tires with air.
You would be ahead to search this forum about compressors before you buy, I think you will be seriously underpowered, especialy for a sand blaster.
 
#7 ·
At less than 6 CFM@90 PSI That compressor is seriously underpowered for almost anything except pumping up tires or running an impact in short bursts. I can not imagine trying to run a sandblaster except for maybe small spot blasting since even a 3/32" nozzle will take nearly twice that much volume to operate properly. I really hate to be discouraging but the numbers speak for themselves and for not much more money you could get twice that much volume and have something that probably will not disappoint you, I think that outfit will.
 
#8 ·
oldred said:
At less than 6 CFM@90 PSI That compressor is seriously underpowered for almost anything except pumping up tires or running an impact in short bursts. I can not imagine trying to run a sandblaster except for maybe small spot blasting since even a 3/32" nozzle will take nearly twice that much volume to operate properly. I really hate to be discouraging but the numbers speak for themselves and for not much more money you could get twice that much volume and have something that probably will not disappoint you, I think that outfit will.
Now a agree you should get as much air compressor as you can afford you will not regret it, BUT I sand blasted my camaro frame and ran all my cut off tools and impact wrenches with a compressor that is almost identical to this one. I pushed it hard but it did the job. Of course I would have loved a bigger compressor but mine did the job. If this is all you can afford you can make it work but with compressors cfm is everything! :thumbup:
 
#9 ·
You can drive a nail with a rock but would you use one to build a house? The impact probably will work decent because of the low CFM rating and the fact that it it will run only intermittently but a sandblaster is an air hog even with the smallest nozzles and it will not work very well even though it may "work" in a sense. A 10-12 CFM tool just will not work right on a 6 CFM compressor no matter what so it is far better to spend a bit more and get the proper set-up than to waste what he does spend on something that is plainly not up to the job and probably will wear out in short order along with being a PIA to use.
 
#11 ·
Get the biggest one you can afford. I have a 29 gal Craftsman one at home ($300) which is good for impact tools, ratchets and tire fill-ups. I got frustrated trying to sand blast parts with it (you would sand blast for 1 minutes, than wait for 2 min for this compressor to catch up). Cut off tool is useless (I couldn't even cut a clean hole in my computer steel case). Now I am looking for a bigger unit. The smaller one can be installed in series with the big compressor unless I find someone to sell it to. Live and learn.
 
#14 ·
I've got a (true) 5 horse 2-stage Kobalt compressor that I like quite a bit, but don't use it to Blast. A friend, however, has a sand blasting cabinet and has an Ingersol Rand 7.5HP 2-stage unit (80 gal tank). I asked him the other day how it does for blasting and his reply was that it does pretty good, but it runs almost all the time he is blasting...so if you consider his 23+ cfm @90 psi is running all the time, well...nuff said.
 
#15 ·
I am not telling lies here! I blasted my camaro frame and all the control arms and all the other odds and ends with this $300 compressor and this HF blaster. If you just need to blast every once and a while a small project it is possible with a small compressor. I am not saying you could start a blasting business with this setup. :rolleyes: I was able to blast continuously for hours.
 

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