Lets test this section out.

My dad unknowingly got me a Craftsman Air compressor. Its a 1.2HP with a 12 gallon tank, and it pushes 1.2 SCFM at 90 PSI.

My issue is between my 5 and 7" air sanders, die grinders and cut off wheels that wont be enough, so I'm looking at compressors in the 5 cfm range.

I looked at Kobalt, Husky, Husky Pro, Dewalt and other Craftsman.



Who has FIRST HAND experience with any of these? Or just the brand. I'm thinking about:

Craftsman, 1.6 HP, 33 Gallon, 4.8 CFM @ 90 psi... $299 (on sale)
Kobalt, 1.6 HP, 30 Gallon, 5.3 CFM @ 90 psi... $399, 3 yr warranty
Dewalt, 15 Gallon, 5.4 CFM @ 90 psi... $359, 1 yr warranty
Husky Pro, 30 Gallon, 5.5 CFM @ 90 psi... $399, 4 yr warranty.
Husky, 26 Gallon, 4.3 CFM @ 90 psi (too low i think)... $199

My dad said he hasn't had great luck with the husky tools, but with a 4 year warranty i can't really go wrong. If sears will give me/him a refund I'll go get one from somewhere else, if not.. I may still go somewhere else and use the gift card on tools at sears.

Whats a good rating for the normal tools? Air sanders, grinders, die grinders, cut off wheels, impact, air ratchet, etc... I need to find my folder with all the owners manuals from my tools in it..

 

my dad has a craftsman 33 and that thing works awesome .... the only tools you listed that ive used with it is impact and air ratchet though.

 

And while I'm here, what about oil free vs. oiled compressors?

 

I like these... we have a baby one at my parents house and sell this brand at my work... no problems with 'em and everything they make is GREAT...

Mi-T-M

 

i'll throw my 2 cents in, although it's canadian so it's more like 1.6 cents in US currency.

i've found that cheap air tools are often the cause of grief. they conume more air and have less power, which means you have to use the tool longer to get the job done, if they'll do the job at all.

what i have at home is a coleman brand 3.6CFM@90 psi compressor with an 11 gallon tank, permanently lubed single stage setup. i don't use it much because all my air tools are at work, where we have a 60 gallon shop compressor. that compressor has ran once for about 2 seconds in the past three years! any takers on that one? i'll explain later...

anyways, how much do you think you need? are you planning on running multiple air tools at once, or one at a time for intermittent periods of useage. if you're planning on doing body work, or serious fab work, you'll need a serious compressor, there is no substitute (well, there sort of is, but it's way more expensive and impractical for virtually everyone!).

by the sound of things, the dewalt is ruled out because it has a tank half the size of the others.

as for the CFM rating on your air tools, it's hard to say without knowing what you exactly have. better quality air tools have a data tag with requirments listed. otherwise you need to find their owner manuals.

to hopefully give you an idea, the air tools i own require the following:
XT7100 1/2" impact - 5.0CFM working speed
AT555A 1/2" impact - 3.5CFM
AT803AK 3/8" air drill - 4.0CFM
AT105 straight die grinder - 3.5CFM
AT118 90 degree die grinder - 2.1CFM
these are only the ones i can find in the snap on catalogue, the others i don't know...

a 5" sander is listed at 4.5CFM, the only 7" sander i could find the the catalogue is listed at 4.3 CFM.

your 1.2CFM won't be enough for substantial usage, the compressor will run non-stop to keep up to your intermittent usage. for the price to performance difference i would look really hard that the husky 26 gallon, as long as it's not "chinsey", i would get it.

EDIT-----

the warranty may still screw you over, if you need the compressor and it's crapped up and needs to go back to china for warranty, it's not much good to you...

also, an oil lubed compressor should give a better life span, i don't care for oilless compressors even though i have one (it was free), they're louder, and i find them generally lower CFM, but not always!

 

x2.... I find that with any piece of equipment which is why I threw up Mi-T-M... they will undoubtedly be more expensive but as the warranty person for a dealer/service center I know they are good and every piece of equipment they make is high quality... I can get you a deal if I can sell it to you but you're out of our territory so I don't think I can... but I have access to any and every bit of information on them

 

Get oiled . Oil free ones wont last long.

 

all my air tools right now are Blue point or Snap on.. And i know the 1.2 wont be sufficient thats what this thread is here for

turns out i learned what DA stands for, stupid me bought a DA 5" air sander thinking it was the normal one :( so i only have the mondo 7" sander right now.. I'm gonna see what the snap on rep can do for me.

I'm reading reviews on sears.com and it looks like the 33 Gallon 1.6HP compressor is getting good reviews, so is the 25 gallon one, but those people don't seem to be doing as much as the people reviewing the 33 Gallon one.

I'll be doing what i can in my driveway, some fab work and other basic metal working.

My body work consists of me sliding along a tree or rock, AKA, I HATE IT! (fixing it atleast)


If sears is willing to make a refund and give me dad his money back I'll look into the Husky one, but for now the 33 Gallon Craftsman one is looking pretty good. 4.8(9) CFM @ 90 psi.


All my tools except the sanders are at work, but i can easily bring them home if i plan on working, and eventually i'll buy a few for home.




uhmmm, what else do you want to know?

Whats the advantages to an oil less compressor?

 

Oil-less is louder, but it pushes oil free air.

 

advantages to oilless are there is no oil to worry about or change, and they're generally cheaper, i can't think of any other advantage.

at least you have good tools, it's damn hard to do good work with lousy tools.

 

yea, I think the only air tools i have that's snap on right now is the air hammer and the 3" cut off wheel, the sanders, ratchet, and die grinder are blue point. If i get another impact it'll be an IR.

most of the reviews say the free ones suck even a claim that, "The impact wrench would not loosen the lugnuts on my mini-van"

lol


When i got my power tank i went and bought a cheap set of HF tools, the damn impact wouldn't break the lug nut free.

 

any more reviews?

I'm gonna go buy one tomorrow.

 

stay away from oilless.... there noisy as hell.

cant recommend any given compressors. ive built mine. with good quincy or devilbliss pumps and baldor motors.

 

I've worked with husky's and don't really care for the build quality, the 33gal Craftsman sounds like the winner...

 

I have a Porter Cable 33 gallon that sounds like it has all of the Craftsman specs. Works well, I'm not expecting it to last forever, but for now it works great. I can get about 10 lug nuts loose with my Snappy MG 725 before it starts to run. The only drawback I can see, if you're not keeping for ever, is that the oil free one's are loud.

 

get the largest tank you can get.

 

i cant fit a 60 gallon tank in my garage or i would. plus then i need to get it wired for a 220v outlet.

my parents are thinking about going to china for a few years.. once they leave all the junk thats not mine in the garage is getting stuffed into the attic


andddd I'm hearing mixed reviews about stuff, but since Husky has a 4 year warranty I think I'm going to go that way..

 

I have the 33 gal Craftsman, and for the most part have no complaints. It is noisy, but everything is a little "give and take". All of my air tools are either Snap-On or Mac, with my cut-offs and grinders being Snap-On. The cut-off wheel usually has no problem unless I'm trying to cut through a big piece of metal. My air grinders do "ok". I can use the air grinders on something the size of maybe one side of the bed of my truck before the compressor gets to the point where it can't keep up. Since I'm typically not grinding on something that large, it works for me. I have absolutely no problem with the air chisels, metal cutter, impact wrenches, or ratchets. It'll run them all day. However, like already mentioned....what are going to do with it? If you plan to a LOT of grinding (ie. commercial use) then this is not the compressor for you.

The only other thing to add, is buy yourself a moisture trap. The tank has a drain plug on the bottom, but you'd be suprised how much moisture I still get in the trap even after just bleeding the tank.

 

weekend fabbing, sanding and 3" cut off. I have a 4.5" electric grinder for the heavy grinding.

Once I get a welder my truck is just gonna blow up with new, random stuff all over it hah..

not so much impacts and stuff working on cars, unless i'm working on a friends car since i do it all day long and i can get my truck into the shop i work at.

 

i know with the 20 gallon tanks I had to stop every 15-20 seconds to let the air catch up when sanding. If you had to go small, I'd try to get hold of a bad unit and maybe add the tank in line to it. Not sure how much extra load it would put on the motor though. The more stored air you have the more time it gives the motor to restore it.

a small compressor is better than no compressor. It'll do anything, its just a matter of long it wil do it.

 

i know that the 1.2 CFM one that i got won't work.
i'm contemplating getting the 15 gallon dewalt and another tank, but then i run into the space issue again.

the craftsman one is 299, the husky is 399.. everything above the $180 for the small one i'm returning is out of my pocket which is why i'm thinking so hard about this lol

It looks like either one will be good. but then it comes down to oiled vs oil-less.. and i'm leaning more towards oiled.

7" Blue point air sander : 4.8 CFM
3" Snap on cut off : 2.9 CFM
Snap on Super Duty air hammer : 1.8 CFM
3/8" BP ratchet : 3.92 CFM
1/4" Collet BP Die grinder : 3.5 CFM


how is scfm so much more than cfm? what does the S stand for? the air ratchet is 3.92 cfm, 28 scfm

 

you can get a 20-25 gallon for 299 easy. Thats what i had in Austin. craftsmen makes one that is a stand up unit which takes less space.

 

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?keyword=00916760000P|0091676100 0P&resultsLabelText=26+gal.+Air+Compressor+with+Ai r+Tool+Kit&adCell=A3

 

copy and paste that. not sure why it doesn't link

 

heres a 33 gallon. same price, but no tools included:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...6762000P?mv=rr