The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Air Compressors

I'm looking into air compressors to run impact wrench, pneumatic hammer, shears, etc. Was wondering what size you have and what works best. I have been looking for 30 gallon or 60 gallon.

Gallon size means little. I have a 4 gal twin tank that works well for what you are asking. CFM
Cubic feet per min. at 90psi is what matters. Sanders, die grinders eat up a lot of air. You will probably get lots of advice here but the rule of thumb is to buy one with enough capacity for your future needs I need to sell mine and go larger 10-12 cfm at least.
It's sorta like buying a tool box. Buy one large enough for the tools you will have someday, not just that will hold what you have now.

It all depends on how often and how long you use these tools. If your gonna use a pneumatic hammer for a long period of time you need a lot of air. Whether a compressor has a 30 or 60 gal. tank has very little to do with how it will keep up with air tools. What you want to look for is CFM, Cubic feet per minute, when you buy a compressor. I recently purchased an Ingersol Rand 5 HP 2 stage compressor with an 80 gal. tank. This unit puts out plenty of air to run any tool in my shop. Ya gotta do a little math here. Ck your tools to see how many CFM it takes to keep them running continously. Then start shopping for a compressor that will keep up.Over the yrs.I have had a few compressors,that were just rag tag outfits. One was on a 60 gal. tank but it took forever to pump up to max. pressure. It would max out at about 125 PSI, then drop down to 90 PSI.When it kicked on at 90 PSI it would take it about 40 min. to pump back up to 125.So the CFM was very low. I have found that Tractor Supply Co. seems to have the best prices on compressors,Ya might want to ck. them out.

the 2 Stage Ingersoll Rand carried at Tractor Supply is a very good all around compressor either in the 60 or 80 gallon version.
DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER a Diaphram type compressor know matter how pretty they are like Sears carries.
Just my 2 cents.

What I have noticed is that a lot of the compressors today get a higher CFM rating from spinning the compressor faster, 3450 RPM is common on the motor and that usually translated to about 1,000 to 1,300 RPM om the compressor head. That shortens the life of your compressor quiet a bit. 11 yrs ago I purchased a 80 gal 18.4 cfm @ 175 psi compressor 5 hp 1735 rpm motor and the compressor turns at 540 rpm for $1,085. When I needed a new one for my other shop 2 yrs ago I gave them a call and for $1,185 I got the same unit and couldn't be happier. I guess what I'am rambling about is a good compressor is going to cost more, but in a few years when it is sitting in your shop still working it tail off you can reach over your shoulder and pat yourself on the back and say "That was a smart move". Keep the rpm's low on the motor and compressor and the cfm's high and it will work a long time for you.

I bought a 5HP, 2 cyl., 80 gal Ingersol/Rand at Tractor Supply that supplies 18.1 CFM continuous at 90 PSI for about $700. Some of the best money I've spent. Ditto on the "oilless" diaphram type compressors. They run a million RPM trying to keep up & work themselves to death. FYI, I hard plummed the shop using black iron pipe & have a dryer/outlet anywhere I need one. Again, some of the best money I've spent.

That 2 cyl IR that Tractor Supply sells looks pretty good.I Opted for the 2 cyl. 2 stage because they were on sale.When I bought mine all compressors were 10 % off.So the 2 stage at $995.was marked down to about $900.And yes the new compressors run a lot faster than the old ones.I will use the oil reccomended by IR in mine.

toomany2count: Quincy is considered to be the very best by a lot of folks and also by a compressor company here that has been in business many years. While I have slowly moved away from Craftsman stuff I purchased the Craftsman Professional 7hp 80gal tank 175psi 19cfm compressor 5 years ago. I use it to run my blasting cabinet, pressurized sandblaster, and many times a friend will be using air while I'm bead blasting and this thing works like a horse. I was worried about it for a while when I put it to "industrial" use but it will catch up and get its breath before kicking on again. Back when I purchased it on sale and with Craftsman club discount I paid a total,including tax, of $805. I hope I never need another but if I do I will most likely save my nickels and try go with the Quincy....but who knows what will be available then??