Air Compressor Advice

Goody_GTI

Goody_GTI

Goody_GTI

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Joined
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Nottingham
Hi all,

Just after some advice on air compressors; my step dad is currently restoring an old triumph spitfire and is wanting to purchase an air compressor in the near future.

Obviously he doesn't want something that is going to be too small or something that is going to be too large so can anybody in the know think of a suitably sized air compressor that will be adequate for spraying a whole car?

Thanks,

Goody
 
Any compressor that will enable you to spray a whole car is either going to have an enormous tank on it, or the compressor itself is going to be a monster.

Spray painting takes a HUGE amount of air.

If you're handy, you might want to look into actually manufacturing your own. Get a mid-sized compressor and tank, then locate some extra tanks. Link them all together with hard lines so the one compressor fills them all.

Yes, that compressor is going to be running for a seriously long time filling them all, but you're not going to run out of air with a paint gun half full and the car only half painted.
 
best thing to do is go to machiene mart and ask, there are loads of hobbie conpressors at the moment, but if your looking fo paint or use heavy air tools its best to spend a little bit more and get a decent one, expect to spend arround 200 quid
 
Jonny69 said:
Stalker
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Hmm i agree...

Mickey_D said:
Any compressor that will enable you to spray a whole car is either going to have an enormous tank on it, or the compressor itself is going to be a monster.

Spray painting takes a HUGE amount of air.

If you're handy, you might want to look into actually manufacturing your own. Get a mid-sized compressor and tank, then locate some extra tanks. Link them all together with hard lines so the one compressor fills them all.

Yes, that compressor is going to be running for a seriously long time filling them all, but you're not going to run out of air with a paint gun half full and the car only half painted.
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Don't fancy the idea of this, it is my step dad and probably wouldn't fancy going to this king of measure! thanks anyway

jimblowscash said:
best thing to do is go to machiene mart and ask, there are loads of hobbie conpressors at the moment, but if your looking fo paint or use heavy air tools its best to spend a little bit more and get a decent one, expect to spend arround 200 quid
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Yes that is most likely what he will have to do, i just wondered if anyone on here had experience in using one or knew of any good reviews as i can't seem to find any.

Apparently a clarke one from machine mart is very good but there are so many of them it is hard to choose

And as already mentioned, i forgot to add he will be wanting to use it for some air tools as well

Cheers!
 
jimblowscash said:
any of the clarke ones will be ok, obviously the bigger the tank and the more powerfull the motor the better it will be.
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Not true at all, and £200 is a bare min really!

free air CFM is important for spraying and most air tools, beware as machine mart quote displacement which different!

Ones to be looking at are the 2 V-twin setups they have in the portable range, or any of the big blue industrial ones. Problem with the latter is they need FAT power supplies and lots of space.

I'd reccomend you look at either the:

Clarke Raider 60
Clarke Raider 120

They are essentially the same except for the size of the tank, oh, and the price! Free air is an impresssive 10.5CFM. They do have another V-Twin but when i asked about it the other day no where had any and couldnt guarentee stock so probably a non starter.

Dont forget if you are an existing customer, MM have a VAT free day on both the 7th and 14th of Jan :)
 
I was waiting to add anything useful to this thread just in case the stalker story unfolded :D

I've got an ancient 1/3hp compressor with about a 25 litre tank. It's fine for spraying, I think it's about 4cfm. What I do is get it to pump the tank up to 120psi and run the lines on 40psi so there's a good reserve of air for it to use. It probably isn't man enough to run a die grinder for very long. They need a hell of a lot of air so it's worth looking at the specs on the tools before you commit to buying.
 
I have a 50 ltr compressor with a 3 hp motor on it. Its usable with most air-tools and spray-guns but the most important thing to look for is the free air displacement (FAD). This needs to be higher than the most air consuming tool you want to put on there. Remember that a 50 ltr 3hp at £200 is going to most likely have a lower FAD than a £400 50 ltr 3 hp compressor.

Some tools need 4 cfm of air a minute at 90 psi yet others need 15 cfm per min. 15 cfm is too high for my unit to constantly use the tool, I could use it in bursts but wait for the tank to refill all the time. HVLP spray-guns work well. Fantastic with an airbrush though as I can sit there spraying for about 90 minutes at 20psi with the unit off.

The other thing to note is it's going to be loud. 3 hp is annoyingly loud (just looked its 97db that's ear defender territory). I put the damn thing in the pit which kills the noise nicely.
 
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Hire one. A decent single phase compressor will cost about 400 quid and need a 30 amp dedicated supply (it will run two 3HP mptors with staggered start up) Also hire a decent spray gun, as buying one (again 150 quid minimum) for a one off job isn't cost effective. If he insists on buying one get a decent secondhand one with a known make of motor and cast iron cylindered compressor. Forget the imported stuff unless he is happy to treat it as disposable

However, my best advice is, unless he is sprayer by trade, to pay a pro to paint the thing and forget about compressors and spray guns, mixing cups, dust free environments, heat, air fed masks and 2 part iso cyanite paints and all the heartache that goes with doing even a tolerable job at home....
 
Thanks for all the replys, will look into those two at machine mart and i also didn't know about the vat free days in january so will check that out too!

I definately know that he will want to buy one and not hire one as he has sprayed before so he knows what he is doing - plus he has all of the spray guns etc. he just needs the compressor.

I will also post some pictures of his spitfire soon before/after to show you lot the result.

Cheers

toyotacelicagt4 said:
Nah i got a collegue that used to go to school with his sister :D
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And how does that explain how you know who my gf is???! :eek:
 
IMO, the cost of a quality compressor fit for spraying, and the cost of paint and consumables, makes it pretty inefficient to spray yourself. I did the bike with a rattly wee SIP oilless number, 25l receiver and 9 cfm (IIRC), which did the job fine using a suitable low-consumption gun... But the biggest panel on a bike is about as big as the smallest panel on a car, so getting good results would be much harder.
 
You will need guns, one of those things that removes moisture from the compressed air and a big compressor- tbh if its for a one off job then just pay someone to do it, the results will be much better, but if you will use it over and over then as a lot of other people have said, get yourself to machine mart and ask , they will know which types is best.

Edit: sorry didnt read posts above just scanned-machine mart-but get aa big one or he will be continuousley wating for it to fill up, i have around a 4 ft high and 2 foot diameter tank and that i dont think has enough air to spray a car.
 
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Another place to try is axminster tools - they are huge and very well respected. I've got my air tools now, but am waiting to get my compressor and canna decide on one from Machine mart, or from axminster....
 
Yes he has all of the tools needed for spraying - its just that the compressor he used to use was quite old and died on him, but i think he is going to go to machine mart in january, on one of the vat free days and get one for about £300, with advice from them

Also he has now told me that when he has finished spraying his car he will give mine a full respray if i do all the prep work - so i may have project pics of my own soon to post :D
 
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