Hi, ive been looking into getting an air compressor for lacquering and painting. A 24L is looking best for my price range, but i want to make sure if this will work well with paint sprayers. ???
Hey Don,
Ive done my fair share of backyarding spray jobs so heres what i know
Guns- suction feed use less air and atomise less efficiently than your gravity feed guns (often called hvlp )( which will use around 220L/min FAD - Free air delivery )
suction feed are a pain to clean, gravity are the go these days and more environmentally friendly (transfer efficient ) as more paint gets on the job your working on .
If you don’t have the budget for a 4hp + 50 L(minimium) + tank compressor simply combine two smaller compressors into the one line ( using a 2 into 1 coupling)
i do this and no troubles running any air tools i need ( I have a 40L with a good size motor and 30L with 2hp motor linked )
one main issue with using compressors (more so small as they work harder ) is moisture in your output air , you can counter this by running the main air line above you in the work area ( about 20mtres ) thus allowing the air to cool and this leads to a filter/water trap before your tool ( u can use a cheapie or go all the way into a $300 odd one ) this will give you the cleanest air , keeping your jobs contaminate free and your tools in good order
put simply, match your job to your setup ,if your only pressing the trigger on your gun for say 10 seconds you might get away with a very basic setup
to compare i can trigger most of my tools on for just over a minute without either compressor needing to kick on
if you run out of (required ) air during the job the compressor will be working its arse off trying to get back up to the right pressure and your gun will flow like a garden hose with a kink in ,your air will be chockas with moisture , both problems leading to a poor surface finish you might as well use a brush or roller
there are some good websites with all the info you need - this will get you started
http://www.about-air-compressors.com/Buying.html
Howzit don, When it comes to compressor for surfboard buiding I prefer a belt driven compressor. For one thing they are quieter than a oiless non-belt driven. Thay also are easier to work on and use less electricity since the motor is usually uses about 6-7 amps instead of 15 amps that most oiless ones use. My compresor had a 30 gal tank on it and I coul spray a whole side of a longboard with out the motor starting. You will need a water/oil trap and a second PSI adjustment gauge besides the one on the compressor. A good compressor is a must have in our business.Since I had to get out of building boards due to health issues I sold that compressor and bought a coupls of Senco's that are great for running my nail guns and air tools. Do some research and there is also a lot of info in the Sway archives abut compressors, good luck and when in doubt buy the stronger compressor since running out of air is a real drag. Aloha,Kokua
hey don
get as big as you can afford
25L wont cut it.
try and get minimum of 100L
buy and sell.ie
paul
I rebuilt one to produce 23 CFM.
Buy a 80 gallon tank
7 hp Compressor Pump and a Lesson Motor
Pressure Switch, New belt and pulley
Set up a breaker box and you can not only paint surfboards but cars as well.
Piece it together - for under $800.00 and you will have a $2,400 unit of equal power.
It will be the last compressor you need to buy,
Change the compressor oil every 2 months and keep the tank drained daily as a general pratice.
Kind regards,
surfding
im not making boards everyday… id only be using using the compressor every so often. i dont have that much room either.
5HP OIL Compressor belt drive 12 CFMs buy one on ebay used. Don’t use a oil less unit to paint.
why not oil-less?
NOISEY and they run real hot and spray horrible. Oil less are good for nail guns but terrible for anything that requires CFM’s.
If you want to paint well get a good compressor. Or just hire someone to do it for you that has the correct equipment.
Howzit surfding,Most air tool compressors are oil because they get a lot more work than ones we use in the surfboard business. My first one was oil less and I will never own another one except for my small Senco ( less than 1 CFM) that I use for brad and staple nailing.My big Senco is an oil one that puts out over 5 CFM's which is enough for painting boards with no problems. Like you said the oil less are way to noisy plus the use to much amperage (15) .My old belt drive used only 6 amps and was so quiet Iloved it but i was to big to lug around for construction work. When I closed the shop down the belt drive was just to big (30 gal tank)to lug around for construction work so I bought the Big Senco which I love. I bought my belt drive from a guy for $75 and found it in the classifieds section. I would look there and Craigslist to find a good one at a good price and I see them in there all the time. Aloha,Kokua
Kokua:
Since in the shop Compressed Air is Vidal and I’ve gone through a few rebuilds I have learned that there is big mark up in a Air Compressor when you buy one from a tool dealer or hardware store. During my last rebuild a professional Air Compressor Repair wanted $600 to replace my Air Compressor Pump on my 80 Gallon 16.0 CFM 7HP UNIT. It cost $175.00 on ebay for a new pump stronger than the previous and yielded 23 CFM’s. We can multi-task and run air guns, air tools, CNC machine at once with no lack of air. Over the years I have replace the drive motor and pulley wheel and belt and pressure switch. You can change the motor with a more energy efficient one. I have found that it is easy to build your own unit by buying all the parts and putting one together.
I will PM you the link to cheapest site to buy all your parts to build your own. (order the catalog) On ebay you can buy just a tank for peanuts and put together a unit that will give you major CFMs so you can get those perfect finishes. Automotive and Marine Paints and Clear Coats fully PRO. I did my Stair Case Piano White using Automotive White topped with 4 coats of clear. 11 years latter Still like new. I use larger air fittings on spray guns and hoses. If you have a 3/8" Hose and then reduce it at both ends with 1/4" fittings you loose a lot of volume of air. PNEUMATICS is an important part of any craftsman’s work life.
Kind regards,
surfding
Aloha surfding, So that was what the PM was about. I read it when I first came on tonight and sent you a PM about it. Actually I used another cmpany for parts that had a catalog that was about5 or 6 inches thick and I could buy the exact same pump I had for $150, The companies name starts with a G and it is well known. Now that I have Sencos I can just buy parts from them and they are very reasonable when it comes to prices. Thanks for the info and I bookmarked the site for future needs. Aloha,Kokua
send me link
I learned to replace motors, pumps, switches and so forth using parts different that the crap most manufactures use. Most of the time I can make the machine or tool better. I find it fun to re-engineer stuff just as it's fun to build boards.
We are Do It Yourselvers so why not be extreme?
would a small compressor hooked up to a bigger tank work?
surfding,
i am currently looking for a new compressor myself, and your suggestion to build our own has peaked my curiosity. would you mind sending me a pm with the company name and contact info that you recommended to kokua? thank you.
Brasco
I will pull out my invoices tonight.
I took a Husky 80 gallon 7 hp 15.1 cfm’s
Today this compressor is operating at 21 cfm’s
It was little money to upgrade this unit.
Cost out a 21 CFM unit?
Kind regards,
surfding
for painting and running air tools you can’t go wrong
Howzit Brasco, Here's the web site for the compressor parts. Aloha,Kokua
surfding & kokua…thanks much for the info
Buy a 80 gallon tank used
Pressure switch
Lesson Motor
Compressor Pump from Surplus Supply
New belt
Make a fuse box