What size compressor should I get for HVLP and other air tools? Do I really need a 60 gal to paint?
Mostly 3D print projects and maybe a fender or something.
What size compressor should I get for HVLP and other air tools? Do I really need a 60 gal to paint?
Figure out the CFM of the tools you have/want
A bigger tank just let's you get more duty cycle out of your tools when the pump is under sized. For painting panels almost anything will work. If you are painting a land yatch then you might actually run out of air. I painted my car with a cheap 60g but I did it piece meal and it's barely ran the pump.
I have a natural gas feed, how much PSI is that? I could conceivably just make an adapter, it’s a 3/4” line.
Painting with natural gas is a brilliant idea. Please stream the result from 1000 yards out with your insurance beneficiary holding the camera. They will thank me.
Sadly natgas lines are mostly very low pressure so it won't work in most cases but the more third worlders try it the better.
Depends on your area, mine is 14 inches of water
>What size compressor should I get for HVLP and other air tools? Do I really need a 60 gal to paint?
Do you have room for a 60 gallon? That'd be the smallest size one I would get, but I use air quite a bit. 80 gallon with the biggest cfm pump your electrical can handle would be even better.
But for your application if you really don't plan on using it that much then yeah something like the compressor you posted would be more than plenty. I have a feeling you will use it more than you think though. Probably 85% of my air use is blowing stuff off to clean it up. Air filters, vacuum cleaner filters, the entire vacuum canister, car interiors, muddy boots, your clothes after doing dusty dirty work, greasy stuff after soaking it in gasoline, etc. Just about everything gets blown off and cleaned up before I take it in the shop to help keep the dirt and grime outside the shop. 10% running air tools, die grinder, air drill, etc. 5% for airing up/changing tires.
Pic rel is the compressor my old man bought for our shop right after we built it in 1999 It ran for almost 20 years with some small upkeep before needing a major rebuild. When I yanked it to do that I added the condenser, water separator, magnetic starter, and a time delay relay to it so that if a hose blows and it runs for more than a set time period it will shut it down. It is currently my 2nd compressor as I plumbed in a bigger cfm Ingersoll Rand with a 7.5hp motor. Probably end up moving this compressor to my 2nd shop at my house...
nice trips and nice compressors
Thanks anon! I implemented this fail safe time-out circuit on each compressor so if a line blows or a large leak develops the compressor will only run constantly for a certain set period of time (can be adjusted from .1 seconds to 10 days depending on what you want. I set mine to around 45 minutes..). Under normal operating conditions it the compressor should cycle on and off enough to re-set the timer and never trip the time delay relay. If it does run for a solid 45 minutes it will trip the relay and shut the compressor down and you have to manually press the reset button to start it back up.
I still need to finish up my new air line in the shop... Running 1" pex-al-pex in a full halo around the entire 50'x100' main building. Will include a couple drops plumbed to the lean-to out back with a ball valve and Chicago fitting so I can park one of my tow-behind compressors in there and back-feed my shop air system in case I need a ton of cfm for a sustained period of time, or if I have a compressor go down and need it for a backup system.
Oh and also added a remote intake filter to the compressor in the post above too, just like the one on this Ingersoll Rand.
Go airless.
I repainted my car with a 20gallon from Harbor Freight and I felt I had more than enough air.
Why don't you put a big ole spoiler on it too?
You're right, I should have done that. Maybe next time.
It's currently matte. It would probably be semi gloss if I ever got around to polishing it
Bit of a story. The Crown Vic was bought in 2019 with silver paint that was flaking off. By this year it was getting worse and worse, and I decided to repaint it, so rust wouldn't claim an otherwise perfect automobile. Problem is, every auto painting place near me has a 3 month waiting list and charges $8k for materiels alone. So I used my employee discount to buy tractor paint from Tractor Supply and painted the car myself. It was purely meant to preserve the car, not be a showpiece. Oil enamel was easy and cheap to work with, even if it was tiresome. Takes days between coats, and takes a month to really cure before you can clear coat it. Paint and $100 Amazon clear coat have performed perfectly. Worked better than I do. All in all I'm pleased. Sanded a sedan down to bare metal and repainted the whole thing, only having my help from my dad during the weeks long sanding phase. Kept the whole project under $2000, which is only a quarter of the materials cost from the professional place nearby. I may make a post about it on the auto board, although it's more DIY.
Is that finish matte or glossy? Looks matte
Shit man I've been thinking about painting my own Vic too. How was your experience?
check out LVP spray guns, you can damn near use a pancake compressor. You have to figure the CFM requirement to size the right tank and compressor.
You know I've tried lvlp guns and hvlp guns with my Hitachi 4 gal compressor and nothing really worked. I switched to an 150 dollar Wagner electric hvlp from home Depot and that gets me by with oil or lacquer clear coats. Just wondering if I picked a 20 gal husky/kobalt/DeWalt compressor if that would get me by for just the occasional built in that I build. I'm a remodeling carpenter so I don't have a shop, but do one wall bookcases like once a year or a desk. Would love to use those cheap hvlp guns from harbor freight.
the assembly of that compressor is cracking me up.
the 4 tiny tack welds (directly on the tank) holding the awkward footlong section of C-shaped metal
the massive cage wrapping the belt
the complete lack of design integration
this is like what I would build if I were left in a room with an engine, a compressor, a tank, scrap metal, and blue paint
I actually really like it
>4 tiny tack welds
Those stitch welds look to be approximately 1.5" long.
That's how ALL decent compressors in that size range look.
>tiny tack welds
Those are far from tacks, and plenty adequate.
>cage
You ever seen what a belt and pulley will do to itself and any fingers or objects caught in it?
>lack of design integration
You don't want this on equipment unless there's significant benefit. It just makes things harder to repair if everything is some custom-made part that only fits one or few assemblies.
gumbressr
The the paint gun barely anything they barely use air. No if youre using an orbital sander you need a pretty big motor and compressor
why don't you give up and let ChatGPT write your posts.
You're shockingly moronic
To reliably paint and run body shop air tools you'll want a 2 stage compressor. If you want your buddy to help, you'll need 23 cfms at 90.
If you want to run a pressure pot sand blaster for hours on end like I used to. you'll need 25 cfms at 125 lbs bare minimum.
In theory could I put a bigger motor and pump on a 30 gallon sized tank? What would be the negatives of this vs a larger tank? Why is there more of an emphasis on tank size than motor/pump?
Bigger the tank the less you have to hear the motor 24/7, and if your motor+pump can't supply the same cfm that your tool uses you have a buffer zone based on the tank size.
Thus big tank+smaller motor>big motor+small tank in most applications.
I haven't had to use large enough tools, but I was thinking of just doubling up my tanks if I needed to since medium to large tanks are common and cheap. Just do your due diligence if you get a used one so you don't asplode and die.
>Bigger the tank the less you have to hear the motor 24/7,
Tank size does not dictate how much the motor runs overall. Your tool use dictates that. And a huge tank cannot compensate for an undersized motor/compressor. Yes, you can take 30 minutes to pump up that huge tank and get 3 minutes of use from your gigantic tool, then you have to wait another 30 minutes to get 3 more.
tl,dr; get the right motor/compressor/tank for the tools you use
The larger tank is beneficial for applications where the compressor can shutdown and cool. A large tank is only beneficial if you have a compressor that exceeds your expected CFM requirements
For continuous applications, the tank size becomes unimportant.
When I was starting out and on a no budget, I ran 2 smaller compressors on a single pressure switch with tanks combined. This gave me the CFMs necessary to accomplish what I was doing.
Safe? I retained both pressure release valves, 1 on each tank but otherwise, probably not. Effective? Yes I found it much easier to find small 2-5 hp portable compressors than a single large one.
Efficient? No
I had built in redundancy, which was nice.
The saying "There is no replacement for displacement" applies even more to air compressors than it does to IC engines.
How likely is it that an old compressor will kaboom? Looking at this one on marketplace for $200. I don't have any specs yet besides 5hp and maybe 60 gallons.
If drained regularly? Virtually never.
Even if drained periodically and it's oil lubricated, you're probably fine.
That still looks pretty underpowered
>That still looks pretty underpowered
The pump? I'm wondering if I should just piece one together on my own.
I'd scope the tank, don't build on a shitty tank
I used a 60 yo one for a time. It sucked. I removed the 1700 rpm motor and turned it with a 3450.
Much better.
They wont explode if the pressure release valve is working.
Last one I saw blow, popped all the nails out of the roof, ballooned the entire building and went through the floor.
Good times
you might be able to find a place that will hydrostatically test it.
>bought air hammer
>minimum air requirement 1.2 cfm
>thought scfm and cfm were the same
>air hammer aint got no juice
>realize my mistake
guess it's time for a bigger compressor. what do i buy that can comfortably run these high power air tools?
idk i have a 30 gallon and i run an air hammer fine but i just do DIY projects like removing exhausts