Help choosing an air compressor...

[jekbrown]

Hey guys. For years I had a crappy HF air compressor. It was great for airing things up and light air tool use, but that was about it. Now that I have my TX house, I want a real air compressor. I want to be able to do everything, from sand blasting to painting. What I don't want to do, though, is any more electrical system upgrades, so I'd like something that runs off regular juice. I'm not a pro that will be using/abusing this thing daily, just need a decent set up.

Questions:

1. Specs required for those uses?

2. Recommended makes/models?

 

[76zimmer]

I’m sure you know already but my experience Sand blasting will be your biggest air usage, needing big volume 60+ gal and significant cfm. I ended up w an Ingersol Rand two stage 80 gal, 15cfm @ 90psi IIRC.
Here is a good link discussion...
https://ck5.com/forums/threads/compressor-recommendations.316749/#post-3448315

 

[onetonbb74]

Anything worthwhile will run on 240v single phase which is regular household juice, but a receptacle will most likely need to be installed. I have a 60 gal upright husky one that has served me well for 18 years.

 

[imiceman44]

I will add my voice to at least 60 gallons, it's what I now have.
2 stage is better but you can still do good with single stage

 

[JoshHefnerX]

I've got one of these, had it almost 5 years now. Haven't run out of air yet. It's pretty quiet in standard form due to the lower rpm - I also put a 'muffler' on the intake and it helped some more. Looks like they have another newer one that has some kind of bigass muffler system on the intake now also.

https://eatoncompressor.com/product...-80-gallon-vertical/#technical-specifications

 

[sweetk30]

220 volt if you can . 2 stage if you can / oil lube is best .

3 big points of noise level i have read on and found first hand .

#1 = rpm speed of motor . low = less noise like less rpm in a engine .

#2 harmonics of the whole unit running . i build my 2 setups from mix-n-match parts and mounted it all with rubber pads . this helps a TON . read it from a guy on garagejournal.com who took a new I.R. and redid the mounting with rubber pads and cut the noise level a LOT .

#3 is intake filter setup . lots of the noise you here is the intake pulses of the pump . think cold air intake or flipped lid on the old 4 barrel carb . . . read some old school guys would plump the intake threw a small 4 cyl car engine exhaust muffler for even less . but now these days there is no need a the filter/muffler combos work so good and chepper . my small unit you needed ear muffs or plugs when running . installed the intake muffler / filter unit for 20 bucks off ebay and WOW no ear protection required now if you wish unlike before .

also rubber pads for the tank feet to floor .

my build thread https://ck5.com/forums/threads/shop-air-system-upgrade-yet-again.318408/