Air compressors?

[JOR_EL]

<font color=blue>My personal compressor meets all the requirements listed above (and has a sight glass to check oil level). It's a Puma for which I paid $600 when it was on sale about 3 years ago.</font color=blue>



Bird, I just found this compressor on the Harbor Freight website (2nd page of compressors):
34887-1VGA
PUMA 6 HP, 60 GALLON AIR COMPRESSOR
$499.99

Does this sound like the one you have?

Thanks,

Larry

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>...Well, as Rosann Rosannadanna of Saturday Night Live fame used to say ...</font color=blue>

Now, she was definitely a hoot... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[M. Sullivan]

Suggest looking at Quincy. Got one last year, 5 hp, 50gal, cast iron pump for $550. Did the research and they appear by far the best. 2 stage not needed unless you want to paint commercially, run a commercial sandblaster.

Definately stay away from oiless. They are designed to use the bits of material (magnesium ) that wear off the rings and pistons as lubrication!! That's why they get louder; the piston and rings are sacrificial and get smaller and smaller until rebuild time or garbage can.

Good luck.

 

[Bird]

Larry, that's very interesting, and very close to mine. It says that's a model PK6060V and mine is a model PP6060V, made in '98. Harbor Freight's model says 115 psi, mine says 120 psi, theirs says 12.9 cfm at 40 psi and 11.4 at 90 psi and mine says 14.16 cfm with no mention of the pressure or the difference. Theirs looks like a light blue? compressor and mine's all black. Actually, I know little to nothing about Puma. Kind of like tractor buying; I went with a dealer I trust, Industrial Air of Texas. They said they have some in shops that run continuously up to 18 hours a day with no problems. Of course, these kind of compressors are definitely not portable - I have a little portable tank I can fill up to carry when I need to, and I have enough air hoses to run anywhere in or around the shop or even all the way around the house. Another thing I like about the Puma is lack of vibration. They come on an oak pallet and you just leave it on the pallet and hook it up. Some compressors vibrate enough to "walk" around, but this one has not moved at all in 3 years.

Bird

 

[jinman]

Bird, can you comment at all on the Sanborn brand that is carried at Sam's Wholesale Clubs? They have both oilless and, I believe, a dual stage upright for about $750. I've also been tempted by the gas engine portables, but my guess is that the compressor components will outlast the gasoline engine on most of these. I have two of the oilless "rattle-traps" and I think I'll move up when my big one quits. My small oilless is for my pneumatic nailers and I have never seen a little unit that isn't oilless.

JimI

 

[Bird]

Larry, your mention of Harbor Freight's price made me go look at the receipt for mine. I said it cost $600 and it was actually $499, but the total bill came to $617 with the regulator/filter, a hose, and some fittings I bought at the same time.

Bird

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Bird,

With respect to water/air separators. I have a dickens of a time with my sand blaster. It's a pressurized blaster and has a water/air separator in the line. I blast 100 grit garnet and it will continually clog, in the nozzle and in the valve where the sand and air mix at the base of the tank. The thing "spits" mud when this happens. When it works good it is very very good but when bad ......$#%@&. I have used an extension on the air hose wrapped in a water bucket to cool and condense the water before it gets to the filter. I crack the water blead valve on the filter slightly open in hope that may help. I think I need a better filter, or move to Arizona. The humidity in Western Wash. ranges from 99% to a little higher. The compressor is the oil free type and it does get hot after even a little bit of blasting. The combination is so bad that my neighbor has never asked to borrow it. Any words to the unwise would be appreciated./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Al

 

[Bird]

JimI, I really don't know anything about the company, but when we lived in town, a neighbor and I both bought little portable Sanborns from Sam's Club in the '80s; never had any problem with them; used mine to paint the exterior of 4 houses. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if it met all my other specs. I just sold it when I retired and took off traveling. As for the gasoline powered ones, I've only used a couple of my neighbors' compressors with Briggs & Stratton engines. They're nice rigs, but everyone tells me the best ones are powered by Honda engines (and that's what I would buy if I were going to get one). It seems that the best and most popular are the ones with the two little horizontal tanks and one wheel in the front between the tanks.

Bird

 

[Bird]

Al, sounds like you have one of those water/air separators in the $50-$60 range (like I have/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif). If you want to really keep all the water out, like auto paint shops, you're going to have to go to the dual models that start over $100; probably something in the $150 range would work pretty well. Since I only normally have 40-50% humidity, drain the water from the tank and filter daily, etc. I don't have too much problem, but I wouldn't try using an oil based paint in my paint gun without going to a more expensive filter; I do get a little moisture through it if I run it very long at a time, like with the sandblaster.

Bird

 

[Bird]

M.Sullivan, I don't recall ever seeing a Quincy, so they might be better; just not familiar with them. Now if someone really wants a fine air compressor, look at the Saylor-Beall. Of course, most of theirs are a little bit large and whole lot too expensive for me to even consider.

Bird