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Posted: 4/11/2007 6:48:37 AM EDT
| If you are just going to use an air brush, then a small pancake will do fine. If you are going to do media blasting, a single stage 60 gal is OK but 80 is better. Check Craigs list for used ones. Also, the traditional oil bath is better than oil-less. Good luck! |
| lI feel that a compressors SCFM rating is more important than tank size, although a big tank is desireable. Usually more HP = more SCFM. Blasting uses a lot of air and recovery time and the ability to supply a steady volume/ pressure is important. When your pressure and volume drop, you want it to recover quickly or you will spend a lot of time standing around. I think SCFM is a measure of the volume of air a compressor can maintain at a given pressure. I recently saw a flyer from Harbor Freight that was advertising a single stage compressor with a rating of around 10 scfm at 80 psi for around $400. I also saw a similar one at Lowes. You could also look for a used one which is how I got my present one. It's an IR two stage with 80 gal tank. My first compressor was a Sears 1hp with about a 12 gal tank. It's max pressure was 90 psi. With my blasting set up, it would use up the initial air in about 5 seconds and steadily drop all the while it was running. It would drop to around 40 psi and hold steady. It took a long time to blast a barreled receiver. It was frustrating, but it did do the job done. With this kind of use, I don't think it would have lasted very long. Also match your blast gun nozzle size to your compressor output. Smaller = less air useage. Also get an oil lubricated compressor as opposed to an oil less which is very noisy. |
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