<VV> Compressors--no corvair

[Chuck Kubin]

Hey gang,
  Andy's advice is right on. Air tool am good; more you use, more you want.
  You can use nail/brad/staple/roofing guns with almost anything. In fact, the small pancake and hot dog units you find at the home improvement stores are made for that and are made for hauling around the job site. The reason is they use a very small amount of air. That's the big difference between an HVLP sprayer and a regular paint gun. The gun moves A LOT of air.
  Surprisingly, an impact gun doesn't use much air unless you are running it without a load. We're talking short bursts of low volume and high pressure.
  Any air tool using a turbine motor that runs a long time also moves a lot of air, and the bigger the motor, the bigger capacity you need to provide. I have a 6" disc sander, and that pulls down my 30 gallon, 5 hp compressor pretty fast before it has to pump up. This tool is near the top of the demand scale.
  If you really don't want to go overboard, compare the tools you want to use to the compressor.  The rating is on every tool, listed in cubic feet per minute.  If your tool used 4.5 CFM and your compressor delivers 3 and has a small tank, you are out of business in no time, unless you like to work for 10 seconds and wait for 3 minutes for the unit to pump up the air for another 10 seconds.
  So this is a case where bigger is better. You can save money by buying a smaller unit but you will want to expand your tools later, and when you do, you won't be the only one who doesn't want the smaller unit.
  My upright 30 gallon is a good deal and will run most air tools, but it really would be insufficient to paint a car. It regularly goes on sale for about $230 at Checker and Pep Boys and is made by Campbell Hausfeld, a very common brand with good warranties and a very wide parts chain, if you do need to fix it later.  Home Depot also carries CH compressors and tools.  I recommend their tools as well, as they might not be quirte contractor grade, but they are great in a home shop.
  As for those considering spraying a house, you really have to shift your focus to a sprayer made for house paint. Automotive guns use air pressure to pull thinner paints out of the gun and fling it on the car. House paint sprayers force pressurized paint through the hose to a gun made to handle the bulkier paint and fling it on the wall. The difference is so great that any attempt to modify the system to do what it wasn't supposed to do is too expensive and too futile to consider.
  Rent these, and only if you have a really big job or are painting very irregular surfaces. Otherwwise they aren't worth the time and expense. The (WAGNER) commercials you see on TV with the happy homeowner gleefully painting his house to the amazement of his neighbor are bullshit. I've owned three of the (WAGNER) cheaper ones, and all (WAGNER) three were worthless. The three (WAGNER) electric ones I returned to the store were deafening and a total waste of time.  The compressor of the somewhat professional level (WAGNER) unit I bought for $300 clogged after the first day, despite a very thorough cleaning and oiling. Its (WAGNER) replacement also failed before I finished the job, and its (WAGNER) replacement was inop when I tried to use it after two year's storage.
   
  Chuck Kubin
  

Andy Clark <slowboat at mindspring.com> wrote:
  Get the biggest compressor you can afford. If you don't, you'll soon outgrow
it as you discover new and wonderful tools to use with it.

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