thanks guys for the responses! unfortunately i dont have a 500-800 dollars on hand (craigslist and other private sellers out of the question)...thus the reason i have to buy it on credit (lowe's card), and unfortunately i dont have a lot of room cause, as i stated before, i rent a small garage that i share with my neighbor...dale 937: i might run out to the burbs and see if i can find a tractor supply...thats something i havent looked into yet, thanks...also, im a novice at fabricating things so im not sure if i could fashion up my own compressor from parts that would be small enough for my garage but powerful enough to use the most demanding air tools on....has anyone done this before (safely, haha)? any ideas?