Air Compressor Capacity

philsefo · Dec 22, 2016

I'm thinking of treating myself to a new compressor, as mine is a bit crap, and broke.

What is the minimum capacity i could get away with? I looked at 50l and 100l and there is a big jump in price between the two. The 50l ones always say, suitable for air tools in small intervals, is this actually true?

I want one for running impact drive, cut of tool, rachets etc.

If anyone thinks 25l would be enough, then i might consider that as one is on offer at Clas Ohlson at the moment.

Marmaduke · Dec 22, 2016

Mine's a 50 and I run an impact driver and a handy little saw with it quite happily. It's a twin cylinder jobber from machine mart. It's more the cfm and hp it puts out than the capacity

philsefo · Dec 22, 2016

Thanks, I'll go with the 50l. I sure a few with 9.5-10 CFM which i think should be plenty

Thanks

wammers · Dec 22, 2016

You need the largest storage tank you can get, with the highest pump output for airtools.

philsefo · Dec 22, 2016

Could someone explain the difference between Air displacement and free air delivery?

neilly · Dec 22, 2016

philsefo said:
Could someone explain the difference between Air displacement and free air delivery?

Have a shufti here. https://www.airsupplies.co.uk/air-compressor-buying-guide

Cheers

Disco1BFG · Dec 22, 2016

neilly said:
Have a shufti here. https://www.airsupplies.co.uk/air-compressor-buying-guide

Cheers

Good guide that

wammers · Dec 22, 2016

philsefo said:
Could someone explain the difference between Air displacement and free air delivery?

Basically the free air delivery per minute is what is quoted by the makers. The actual usable compressed air will be a fraction of that, maybe a third of the free air delivery.

Brown · Dec 22, 2016

I know everyone on here favours massive air tanks, but you can get quite a lot done with a 50l tank. After all, when working single handed on most jobs around the home or on the Land Rover you don't necessarily have the trigger pulled all the time. You're changing position, checking the workpiece, straightening your back and the like. So a machine with a smaller tank doesn't necessarily struggle to keep up. I've been pleasantly surprised at my 50l 3hp Machine Mart jobbie over the last three and a half years or so. Plus I can lift it into the back of the Land Rover single handed. Obviously if you want to grit blast on an industrial scale it may not be for you.

raywin · Dec 22, 2016

The capacity of a compressor when given in free air can be considered as the air it takes in through the inlet, the volume of air is directly proportional to the pressure so if the compressor takes in 10 ltrs of air and compresses it to 1 bar g (2bar a) then the volume of the compressed air will be 5 ltrs. So the output volume of the compressor completely depends on the discharge pressure. To try and understand the capacity of the unit they use the inlet volume per minute or per hour. Higher capacity needs more power ( bigger motor ) a 13 amp single phase supply is quite small and won't give enough power to keep up with serious air tools so the reciver acts as a resovoir and allows you to run an impact gun or other tool for a few minutes then you can allow it to re charge.
In short bigger is better both pump capacity and receiver capacity.

Marmaduke · Dec 22, 2016

Brown said:
I know everyone on here favours massive air tanks, but you can get quite a lot done with a 50l tank. After all, when working single handed on most jobs around the home or on the Land Rover you don't necessarily have the trigger pulled all the time. You're changing position, checking the workpiece, straightening your back and the like. So a machine with a smaller tank doesn't necessarily struggle to keep up. I've been pleasantly surprised at my 50l 3hp Machine Mart jobbie over the last three and a half years or so. Plus I can lift it into the back of the Land Rover single handed. Obviously if you want to grit blast on an industrial scale it may not be for you.

I'm guessing you've got a similar one to mine
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-raider-15500-3hp-50-litre-air-compress/

Brown · Dec 22, 2016

Marmaduke said:
I'm guessing you've got a similar one to mine
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-raider-15500-3hp-50-litre-air-compress/

Mine's more like this https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/pe15c50-ol-portable-ind-air-compressor/ Or the equivalent about three or four years ago.

bankz5152 · Dec 22, 2016

Glad I came across this thread, looming to get myself a compressor in the new year, I was looking at this -

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=191070258156&alt=web

Mainly need it to spray a few bits, roll cage, sliders, etc.. and possibly a buzz gun in the future. Though I know nothing about them...

Any good?

Marmaduke · Dec 22, 2016

Brown said:
Mine's more like this https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/pe15c50-ol-portable-ind-air-compressor/ Or the equivalent about three or four years ago.

Posherer than mine then

Belt driven ones are meant to be quieter

Marmaduke · Dec 22, 2016

bankz5152 said:
Glad I came across this thread, looming to get myself a compressor in the new year, I was looking at this -

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=191070258156&alt=web

Mainly need it to spray a few bits, roll cage, sliders, etc.. and possibly a buzz gun in the future. Though I know nothing about them...

Any good?

Have a look at machine mart or similar for the type of tools you'd like to use and they will give you a recommended output size for each tool, you want to look at the cfm figures under load conditions ideally at this is how much it needs to work full chat

bankz5152 · Dec 22, 2016

cheers therea one local to me n all! Im only looking for a basic one to spray up a few bits as the quoted cage to spray a cage with a raptor alternative was £700

Hence why its overall cheaper to buy me own kit!

wil2813 · Dec 23, 2016

i run 250 ltr compressors at 10 bar (150 psi) all day fitting tyres, personally for home use id be using a 75-100ltr hydrovane

philsefo · Dec 23, 2016

Brown said:
I know everyone on here favours massive air tanks, but you can get quite a lot done with a 50l tank. After all, when working single handed on most jobs around the home or on the Land Rover you don't necessarily have the trigger pulled all the time. You're changing position, checking the workpiece, straightening your back and the like. So a machine with a smaller tank doesn't necessarily struggle to keep up. I've been pleasantly surprised at my 50l 3hp Machine Mart jobbie over the last three and a half years or so. Plus I can lift it into the back of the Land Rover single handed. Obviously if you want to grit blast on an industrial scale it may not be for you.

That was my thinking, for example i want to run a decent impact driver but its only a minute use then that's it while i work. I just don't want to be constantly hearing the compressor start up again.

Marmaduke said:
Have a look at machine mart or similar for the type of tools you'd like to use and they will give you a recommended output size for each tool, you want to look at the cfm figures under load conditions ideally at this is how much it needs to work full chat

I spent yesterday doing that, and i actually looked at the guide mentioned previous in the thread. It says a 1/2" impact wrench would use 10.5 CFM which would be at the very top limit of a 50l compressor, the ones i've seen have been around 9.6.

One more thing, i plan on doing some spraying with it, at first i thought oil-less compressor as i've heard small amounts of oil mixed with the air. Surely i can just get an oil lubricated compressor and a filter with something like:

http://www.oilandfuelpumps.com/heav...ricator.html?gclid=CMXJ-piHitECFcHNGwodVzUErA

jamesmartin · Dec 23, 2016

its not a bad idea to have a compressor with a smallish tank ,but with an old gas bottle etc as extra capacity when needed

philsefo · Dec 23, 2016

jamesmartin said:
its not a bad idea to have a compressor with a smallish tank ,but with an old gas bottle etc as extra capacity when needed

What order would you do this?

As in Pump -> main tank -> gas bottle -> outlet

or?

Air Compressor Capacity

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