Impact gun buying questions

[Bird]

a cheap 1/2 inch drive from walmart

My first one, and which I used for many years, was a Central Pneumatic from Harbor Freight. When I retired and took up full time RVing, I sold all my air tools together to a friend and neighbor. Then 6 years later when we quit full time RVing and bought the little farm, I bought them all back from him. That Central Pneumatic impact was a CP734 "clone". Same basic design, looked the same, etc., but the CP734, probably Chicago Pneumatic's most popular half inch impact, was the same 425 ft. lbs. of torque as the Ingersoll 231, while the Central Pneumatic was 250 ft. lbs. It still worked fine when I sold it cheap because I didn't need it anymore, but I had found at least one lug nut and one lawnmower blade nut that it wouldn't break loose.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

In all the years I was a mechanic the two impacts I had, and still have that outperformed all the others were a cheap 1/2 inch drive from walmart that I got almost 15 years ago, I know the quality isn't quite the same now but I do have a new one too and it's working fine. Also a IR plastic looking impact wrench that is by far the strongest one I've ever had. It easily breaks loose over 600 foot pound torqued bolts that are rusted tight on the farm equipment. I've even gotten big truck wheels off with it after our hydraulic one inch drive wrench wouldn't budge them.
I've never had a tool truck impact that would even come close to even the old walmart one I have in terms of power or longevity. In fact I had a whole drawer full of broken mac and snapon air tools that broke long ago and were not cost effective to fix. They all got tossed last time I cleaned my shop. That plastic IR wrench I really like came off a Matco truck.

My compressors have almost always been sears units and the biggest ones they have. I've had 3 different 60 gallon ones with oilless pumps. They plain sucked. Too loud and the pumps didn't last a year before needing at least new rings. The newest one I have is the big black one from sears with a 80 gallon tank and a 6.6 hp oiled motor. This thing even runs my blast cabinet for hours on end without messing up.
I did have a problem with it right after I brought it home, within a week, were it suddenly took forever to build up pressure. The service guy that came out was about worthless in diagnosing it but he listened to me when I told him it probably broke a ring. It did. Two of them in fact. I asked if he's get me a whole upper end rebuild kit and it was here in two days via fedex. The bone heads that packed it didn't do very well in cushioning things so all of the piston rings except the two that I actually needed were broken in the kit but I do have a lot of left over new parts like connecting rods and bearings ad gaskets in case any of that fails again so sears did take care of me on it I guess. I did the work myself to fix it in only about 20 minutes and it's been running strong ever since. All I replaced was the two broken rings.

The compressor is something I will address in the future. First I need to get full electric and concrete down in at least part of the shop. I would like to set the compressor in a corner and run hard lines through out the shop (its a two section 40x64 with a 16x64 lower section and a 24x64 upper section). When I get ready to concrete the one half of the 24x64 I will buy a larger compressor and set anchors in the concrete while we pour. So when I am ready to concrete the barn I will bother all of you guys for advice on compressors then

Is the plastic IR the compostite body like I linked to up top?

 

[czechsonofagun]

I would stick the compressor outside - to keep the noise out of the shop.

I always enjoy telling people what they should do

 

[Bird]

Is the plastic IR the compostite body

That's what it is. Those composite body impacts are light weight, incredibly powerful, and if properly cared for, last well. However . . ., sometimes the reverse buttons pop out. You might be able to just put them back, or you might need to buy a button kit. I've seen the little piece that separates the forward and reverse buttons fall out. If you don't lose it, you can just superglue it back. If you do lose it, a whole new housing (handle) won't be cheap. The air motor cylinder is some kind of very light weight aluminum alloy while all other air motors I ever saw had steel cylinders. If a steel cylinder gets lightly scored, you can hone it with a cylinder hone. If the aluminum alloy gets scored, you replace it. The air inlet in the composite is a tilt valve. I've seen those break, and unless they've changed in the last few years, you couldn't buy just that one piece; you had to buy a whole kit with a lot of parts you didn't need. In other words, they're good; very good, but not as tough and durable as the others. Of course, as you would expect, most of the problems with them have been the result of abuse. I had one that was left laying outside in a puddle of water and I had one that the guy left laying on the shop floor, then lowered the lift and crushed part of it.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I would stick the compressor outside - to keep the noise out of the shop.

I always enjoy telling people what they should do

I was planning on putting it in the corner so I could wall it in if I find it too loud. A nice insulated wall will work wonders for sound proofing.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

That's what it is. Those composite body impacts are light weight, incredibly powerful, and if properly cared for, last well. However . . ., sometimes the reverse buttons pop out. You might be able to just put them back, or you might need to buy a button kit. I've seen the little piece that separates the forward and reverse buttons fall out. If you don't lose it, you can just superglue it back. If you do lose it, a whole new housing (handle) won't be cheap. The air motor cylinder is some kind of very light weight aluminum alloy while all other air motors I ever saw had steel cylinders. If a steel cylinder gets lightly scored, you can hone it with a cylinder hone. If the aluminum alloy gets scored, you replace it. The air inlet in the composite is a tilt valve. I've seen those break, and unless they've changed in the last few years, you couldn't buy just that one piece; you had to buy a whole kit with a lot of parts you didn't need. In other words, they're good; very good, but not as tough and durable as the others. Of course, as you would expect, most of the problems with them have been the result of abuse. I had one that was left laying outside in a puddle of water and I had one that the guy left laying on the shop floor, then lowered the lift and crushed part of it.

Thanks for the inside insight on these tools Bird. I appreciate yours and everyone elses thoughts on this subject.

 

[Bird]

I would stick the compressor outside - to keep the noise out of the shop

That's probably a good idea IF: (1) you have some kind of roof or cover over it to protect it from the weather, and (2) you don't forget to drain the condensation, especially during freezing weather.

I just don't like for my equipment to be outside where it deteriorates quicker.

And Robert, putting anchors to fasten a compressor down on concrete is OK, if you use some type of vibration absorbing mount. Personally, I'd never do that. I had a 60 gallon upright, 6 hp, V-twin, oiled compressor in my shop, and I left it on the pallet it came on (as recommended by the dealer). It never moved at all in the years I had it, but when I sold it, all I had to do was disconnect the power and air hose to take it to the buyer's pickup.

 

[WTA]

I left my big one on the pallet also. I don't think it hurts anything at all. It's hardpiped up to the attic and across the shop to all the work stations where I use it. I have some pretty serious filtration both at the air compressor and at a long hose reel too because of the blast cabinet and I do quite a bit of painting, both with an airbrush and a big car sprayer. I mostly use high dollar automotive paints that don't tolerate even the slightest amount of moister in them so the filters and separators are a must.

 

[Bird]

Here's a picture of the workbench where I used to work on air tools. The compressor is right behind that wall with tools hanging on pegboard, so I've included a couple of shots on the other side of the wall. My shop was just 40 x 60. And nope, I would not plumb my air lines with PVC again, but at least I never had a problem with mine.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

That's probably a good idea IF: (1) you have some kind of roof or cover over it to protect it from the weather, and (2) you don't forget to drain the condensation, especially during freezing weather.

I just don't like for my equipment to be outside where it deteriorates quicker.

And Robert, putting anchors to fasten a compressor down on concrete is OK, if you use some type of vibration absorbing mount. Personally, I'd never do that. I had a 60 gallon upright, 6 hp, V-twin, oiled compressor in my shop, and I left it on the pallet it came on (as recommended by the dealer). It never moved at all in the years I had it, but when I sold it, all I had to do was disconnect the power and air hose to take it to the buyer's pickup.

It would be set up properly and isolated. This is something I have experience with as we have poured quite a few foundations for our friends machine shops.

We used black pipe when we ran hard lines in the clean room we rebuilt at the machine shop. I would do the same in our barn as I can run a main line down the loft with one drop every 16' to feed both sections of the barn.