Air Compressor

viper red cj-7

viper red cj-7

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2005
Location
charlotte
Hey all,
Looking to purchase a new air compressor. What are you guys using?? i'm looking for a 30 gal, 120V compressor. Not interested in a huge one.

uses?: minor air tools, mostly airing up tires of all sorts. Air nailers, ...Not grinding for hours on end..

Price?: i'm looking in the range of $300. ish....

What do you use and do you like it or not??

thanks!

Brian
 
If your budget is $300, buy something used. Anything decent in the 30 gallon size is going to approach twice your budget minimum. You might want to look at the huge market full of 20 gallon units, which are very common. They're still far out of your budget though if you're trying to actually get a quality unit.
 
A $300 consumer grade compressor will have vacuum cleaner motor running the oil less pump.
Loud, and not very long lived if used regularly.

Step up a little bit more get something with a twin cyl belt driven oil lube pump.
When I'm ready I'll probably check out the HF models pretty close.

My current is a Craftsman oil less that is 18 yeArs old, it stil works. I have pump rebuild kit for it, still haven't installed it. It's loud, it leaks at regulator. It still works
 
Harbor Freight 60 gal or used 60 gal. Like someone said, skip over the 30 gal units. Most are oilless, and loud as an angry cat. I personally have both the HF replacement heads on compressors I own. I use the smaller twin cylinder on my 60 gal IR at home. It will keep up with a spray gun, works great, and is quiet enough that it can kick on in the basement under my boy's room, and he won't wake up. I have the V-twin pump on my 80 gal Snap-on compressor at the shop. It's impressed the hell out of me. Spray guns, grinders for hours, sanders, etc. If you don't mind a little calculating and sweat equity, find a 60 gal with a bad pump and good motor. Offer them $100. Go drop another $150 on the HF pump and another $20 on the pulley and belt.
 
Thanks for the info..
The ones you guys are talking about- would I have to run 220 ??

I don't necessarily mind bumping a little more $$$ for something that I won't have to mess much with...
tknopp said:
If your budget is 300 I know of a big one you could get for that price.
Click to expand...
Tom, is it 220??
 
Yes, but that's a small price to pay for a compressor that will do anything you need to do. Cheap out on it, and you will regret it soon. Try to cut off one bolt with a cutoff wheel and a 30 gal compressor. You'll see what I mean.
 
Have that 300 in cash. Something worth having will pop up on c/l or on here from time to time

On second hand I think an oilless compressor might suit your needs a bit better. If all you are going to do is air up tires and use a small impact and nail gun then that's all you'll need. It will be louder and it won't last as long but you don't sound like your going to be using a lot of air. Hard to say. I have a 220v 60 gallon air compressor, albeit low end of the spectrum. It still doesn't keep up with my die grinder.

As for a cut off tool I only use it when I have to. Any other time I'll use my 4.5" angle grinder to cut what needs to be cut.

Heck, you could probably get away with one of those little pancake things.
 
I have a little 1HP (oiled) 12 gallon unit that I've been using until the garage is built, and it does almost everything I need on a daily basis. It will run an impact for short/basic tasks, air ratchet, etc., and I can wheel it around to do tires in strange spots. It's a 125psi compressor, so it will run an air nailer for a long time without kicking on below pressure threshold. It won't run a grinder or cutoff or body saw, but I've got friends for those occasions.

I sold my 60 gallon some years back for lack of 220V power in rented houses. I'm getting a Quincy for the new garage to make myself feel better.

BTW, if you're looking for made in the USA (not just "assembled"), the brand list is very, very, very short. Quincy is on that very short list, and Champion, Jenny, Saylor-Beall, couple of others. Open the wallet very wide if you want USA-made, unfortunately.
 
Last edited:
I have a 28 gal oil-less that I bought about 12 years ago. I get what everyone is saying about a nice compressor. I would like to have one also. When I bought mine, I wanted something I could move around and take with me if I absolutely had to. That being said, it has done about everything I have needed over the years. It can be a pain using a air grinder and stuff like that. But I don't use them constantly when I need one. I'm not discounting what the others are saying, at all. Just that you can get by just fine with a lesser unit.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk
 
I ended up with two freebies. A Craftsman 26 gallon upright that needed a new wheel, drain fitting and replace a cracked hard line that came out of the take to pressure regulator. Then someone else gave me a 15 gallon that had a shot motor. I pulled everything off and plugged it up with a quick disconnect. I use it as an air storage take that I can roll around to fill tires. Super happy with both seeing as I only had a 5 gallon pancake compressor prior.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ive got an IR 60gallon from Tractor Supply.
Its ~10 years old at this point.

Nope its not a quincy but it runs ~10 hours a week between me and my neighbor. Its ran a gun to spray probably 100 cars at this point.
For a home hobby shop buying a quincy or similar is akin to buying a Bentley for a commuter car on a fixed income.

Save the money and buy better air tools. The ROI is worth it.
 
Ron said:
For a home hobby shop buying a quincy or similar is akin to buying a Bentley for a commuter car on a fixed income.

Save the money and buy better air tools. The ROI is worth it.
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying, but there really isn't a price difference between a specs-comparable IR and Quincy, that's why I'm getting a Quincy.

At the 5HP 60 gallon level, an IR single stage (SS5L5) is almost the same price as a two-stage Quincy (QT-54), and the IR 5HP two-stage is the same price as the Quincy. I've heard way too many recent stories of very problematic IR units (SS3L3, SS5L5, and the Tractor Supply SS4L5) to consider one of them instead of the Quincy for little/no price difference.

on the lower level, there's the $700 3HP single-stage IR SS3L3 or the $700 5HP single-stage Tractor Supply SS4L5, but again with the widespread recent stories of reliability problems and repairs/replacements. The 3.5HP Quincy single-stage is within $100 of the 5HP Tractor Supply, and flows almost as much (the Tractor Supply has a small pump head for a 5HP unit). I think the Quincy is worth the extra $90.


No, I'm not getting a Quincy rotary-screw unit for my home shop... ;)
 
Last edited:
I paid under $500 for my 4hp ir and I think under 400 but it's been a longtime
 
catfishblues said:
Harbor Freight 60 gal or used 60 gal. Like someone said, skip over the 30 gal units. Most are oilless, and loud as an angry cat. I personally have both the HF replacement heads on compressors I own. I use the smaller twin cylinder on my 60 gal IR at home. It will keep up with a spray gun, works great, and is quiet enough that it can kick on in the basement under my boy's room, and he won't wake up. I have the V-twin pump on my 80 gal Snap-on compressor at the shop. It's impressed the hell out of me. Spray guns, grinders for hours, sanders, etc. If you don't mind a little calculating and sweat equity, find a 60 gal with a bad pump and good motor. Offer them $100. Go drop another $150 on the HF pump and another $20 on the pulley and belt.
Click to expand...

Looks like a trip to HF is on order. I appreciate all the input! 10CFM at 90PSI is way to go??
 
10cfm@90psi is a good starting point if you think you'll ever want to run a die grinder, sander (intermittently,) or plasma cutter. You won't know how much you appreciate it not having started with a 30 gallon oilless, but it's worth it.
 
Back
Top