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Anyone use a compressor and air tools? If so do you rate them and what would you recommend re tank size and quality.

The bike's in serious need of a paint job so I'm thinking of investing in a compressor rather than using rattle cans. The initial outlay will be more but I'm trying to work out if there are other benefits (not just a better paint job) to off-set.

I had a need to buy one for sanding and painting some stuff around the house like fence, scratches on car, bike parts. I went trough some opinions online but they just said stuff like "you want to paint a fence? you have to buy a compressor for loads of $$$, you need 400l/min, everything cheaper is crap".. So I decided to buy something that should be good because of brand and in my budget. I went for Metabo 350-100 D. It wasn't very cheap but it works for me. You can check specs online. It gives me 30sec of constant sanding @7bar then 35sec of waiting. During painting @2bar with some generic air pistol (not HVLP) it gives you sufficient time to paint bigger elements before it will start to pump.

I bought a Lidl Parkside PKO 400 A1

http://www.lidl-service.com/static/9090166/64577_EN.pdf

Must of had it about 6 years now. No problems at all.

This is my setup & some of the tools It runs.

Sealey Air Die Grinder 90° Angle GSA674. (Porting/polishing heads & other hard to reach areas)

Sealey SA70 Air Orbital Sander. (Still have the old sash windows..)

Ingersoll Rand 1/2" impact gun. 1/4" drive butterfly gun. 1/4" drill. Air chisel. (Wheel nuts/strip downs/ removing concrete lintels etc.)

Old Sealey needle gun. (Rust removal from the gates)

Usual tyre inflator & air gun bits.

I do have paint spray guns but never painted with it as I don't run a water separator.

The compressor itself is large & heavy so it lives under the bench in the shed.

I use 5 lengths of Silverline 10m air hose joined with bits of 4" Copper micro bore & jubilee clips. This allows me to use it all around the house & reach cars/bikes to inflate tyres etc.

I would recommend using new Sealey tools as a minimum, they're cheap & use quality bearings.

I have some old used tools, but tbh high quality but worn out big brands might struggle (car boot sale finds..)

Yes - very handy for blowing up things!; balloons, frogs, tyres (pushbike and MC) & brake pistons etc.

Also useful for cleaning out fag ash from 'puter keyboards. Plus air powered dremel type tools + spray painting.

My Airmaster 4EPA (240v 110psi) must be at least 25 years old and still chunders away like a good 'un. (Must check oil one day...)



So good to have but be careful what you buy (see sellers description here > http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clarke-air-co ... rmvSB=true

Wicky wrote: (Must check oil one day...)

I also was thinking the same thing whilst typing mine out too Wicky

You are going to need a 3hp or bigger machine with a high cfm rating, ideally 12cfm or higher. And also a gun to match the cfm rating. If you are using tools and paint I would advise having a set of hoses for each. As you don't want your paint contaminated with oil from the tools

Cheers for the advice.

Time for some research and trawling ebay, looks like it's going to be more expensive than I thought though.

This might be in your budget

http://www.screwfix.com/p/scheppach-hc1 ... _container

buy at least a 15cfm one with a 50litre tank. Also make sure you have one with an oil sump. Machine Mart are good. Or Halfords when they have offers with a 5 yr guarantee.

C'mon guys.. 15cmf is great but it is surely not necessary for painting stuff around the household. Mine metabo has effective delivery of 7.8cmf at 80% pressure. It is just a matter of using the right tools and knowing the limitations. I know that I can't use HVLP paint gun with mine but I can use HP gun. Similarly I won't be able to work continuously on 50m of hose with some more air demanding tools but I don't do it for living so it's o.k. Btw the Lidl one has 5.6cmf