I bought a $400 or so compressor from Menards... it ok but definitely would like a bigger one... I didn't have the money for a better one, and didn't have the time to look for a good used one...
I had a craftsman "5 hp" 60 gallon compressor with the crappy little aluminum pump. don't buy on of those. I came across a used quincy pump for free so I put it on the craftsman tank. the craftsman motor would kick the breaker on the motor without even filling up the tank even though it was rated as having enough HP to run the pump. come to find out Craftsman and other companies are allowed to just lie and say whatever HP rating they want to. ended up with a Baldor motor. another thing to think about if you are assembling one from used stuff is the pully size. compressors run best at a certain RPM. originally I was not using the full power of this frankenstein setup I put together. I bought the right sized pully for the motor and now it kicks ass. this is my 3rd and final compressor. if it wears out I'll rebuild it.
how's this for a shitty setup where a guy is trying to run a business and charging people by the hour? worked at a place where the owner had 2 small garage type fill up your bike tires kind of compressors. to do any type of grinding or whatever you had to run both and switch your tool from one line to the other while they caught up and there still wasn't enough volume of air to work continuously. then to ad to the fun if someone used another electric tool it would pop the circuit breaker. I figure for every 10 minutes of D-A-ing you get about 6 minutes of actual work done.
I've got a 5hp 80gal Champion Centurion II. It's made in the USA and uses a Baldor electric motor. I've had it for almost 3yrs now and it gets used just about every day. For the price, you can't beat it. It's powerful, never let me down and it'll last for ever. Plus you can find them under $1800 new. http://www.tptools.com/p/184,91_5-HP-2-Stage-Champion-Centurion-Series.html
None of my business but, have to say it .. You should never weld on, or attempt repair of a compressor tank .
I agree, Id be shitting my pants as that green thing approached cut off pressure the first time I ran it...
I design & build ASME coded pressure vessels for a living. I wouldn't suggest to let just anybody do it either.
unless you are using them at 60-80 percent of their duty cycle they will cost you more monry in repairs and maintenence.i install compressors for a living mostly rotary screws 25hp to 200hp.the problem is if the machine runs unloaded for too long it starts carrying oil downstream of the unit as well as the fact that alot of these smaller units wont evn get to the proper running temp when they run unloaded all the time,theproblem with that is the codensate the machine makes will not evaporate out and starts prematurely wearing filters and clogging scavenge lines with rust and crap.not to mention it dramaticly shortens the life of these parts as well as the oil,none of wich are cheap.those machines are better used for labratorys and such where a continuous demand is used.for home use nothin beats a piston unit peroid.check out the company i work for we are owned by quincy.www.airperfectioninc.com or pm me and let me know what and how many tools you plan on using.and if you will have more than one goin at a time,also what kind of power do you have coming in to your location these important to know before you buy a unit.i can tell you the dude at home depot will have no clue and he will be selling you a grenade!!!!!!
just a shot look into northern tool,they have single phase QT-5 Quincy units for a fair price,dont buy into the high pressure crap,most tools are rated at 90psi look for a unit in the 18-24 cfm range 240v single phase.tsc has good IR units as well.hope this helps
Looks like a good price on an IR compressor with free shipping from Northern. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_211720_211720
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