Worth a try.... will report

[Sasquatch]

I was at the local tool-o-rama, which for me is about 100 miles away, and I was browsing through their compressors - they had a good dozen on the floor of various brands, I was impressed with the selection.

I noticed this tag:



and I thought "That's in the ballpark." A quick look at the pump showed me a two stage head - the tell-tale finned intercooler line is a giveaway. But wait... it's not a 2 stage. It's a twin single rigged to look like a bit like a 2-stage if you didn't have your eyes on.

Now, I'm Mr. Research and I tend not to make big purchases totally impulsively. I've been gearing up to buy a compressor and considering options and price points. I got this unit for literally 1/3 of what the 2-stage Ingersoll/rand was going to cost with a 60gal tank and the cfm at 90psi is higher on this pump. Can such things be and not overcome us? Here's where things get interesting. Lots of reading on compressors reveals that single stage pumps can offer more air at lower pressures than double-stage pumps when set up like this. So there's an efficiency curve that starts to wane on the single stage pumps after a certain pressure. Up at 170 PSI the single stage pumps won't produce as much CFM by a noticeable amount as a 2 stage pump, but nearer 100, the twin singles produce more. So..... I thought I'd give this thing a run. It's a huge upgrade from my little portable thingy no matter what. If it proves to be not enough, I can sell it and not lose too much. At what I paid, if I get a year out of it, I'll be happy, actually. Once it's wired up and I'm blasting, I'll report back and tell you guys whether I'm full of shit or not. Vote early, vote often.





And it's black. It's like... Mad Max built a compressor. How could I not buy it?

[scotties22]

Funny. I just looked at one of these on Craigslist for like $400. I didn't call on it because it has been beat all to hell and the motor looked a bit rough. Will be interesting to see how it performs for you.

[Sasquatch]

Yeah this was 699 forklifted into the truck, new with 1 year warr so I just said "Fuckin A Bubba load 'er up."

[Alden]

I'll report back and tell you guys whether I'm full of shit or not.

Seriously, no one here needs another post to answer that one.

[AlfaDog]

Are you going to run air lines in your whole shop? I can help you lay out the proper way to practically eliminate moisture in the lines. i worked 20 years in a body shop and there are some definate "rules" very few people bother with or don't consider or don't know about. It's all in how you run your lines and do your "drops".

Also get some flex line to go from your compressor to your hard lines. The hard lines will last alot longer if you eliminate that direct vibration from the compressor.

[Sasquatch]

I have 25 feet of hose to a wall-mounted moisture trap, a filter, and then 25 feet of hose to get onto the cabinet. My shop isn't big enough for "drops" truth be told. And all I do is sandblast or run a nail gun. I don't run air-based tools. Even my paint gun is HVLP so that's not compressor-oriented.

[Sasquatch]

I'm up and running here. I set the reg for 120 and pulled the trigger in the blast cabinet.

I get 1:40 or so of blasting on a fully charged tank (that 80g is niiice). Once the compressor kicks in, it takes about about the same to refill if I stop blasting. So that's 50% duty cycle which is a little heavy but pretty acceptable on a short term basis I guess.

So the big question: if I keep the trigger pulled, does the compressor gain or lose on the cabinet? It gains. Slowly, but it does gain. I can't get the system below 120 psi where the pressure switch kicks the compressor on.

So for me, for driving this little blasting cabinet, this machine will be enough. It's a vast upgrade at any rate, and I did in ten minutes what used to take me an hour.

I happy!

[wdteipen]

Nice and congrats. You going to make real pipes now?

[Sasquatch]

Blobby, goofy melting things like you make, you mean?


Yeah, maybe!

[pipeguy]

Gents where's the love? I thought there was still a little decorum left in the world

[Sasquatch]

Wayne's jealous because I'm so handsome. I can't help it!

[pipeguy]

No excuse Todd, thats the cross you must bear

[caskwith]

Sounds good. My compressor usually has to run most of the time I am blasting, it can fill the tank just a bit faster than I can use the air the air so it often catches up with me. It certainly runs more than 50% duty cycle but I was very limited as to what I could get here without 3 phase power. I'll probably end up wearing it out way faster than normal but if I can get another couple of years then it will work out to just a couple of quid per pipe blasted and that is acceptable to me. In the mean time I try and spread my blasting out so I don't do too many at a time and I change the oil more often than recommended (much easier since I fitted a sensible drain!)

[Sasquatch]

Yeah Chris I think without industrial-type power (600V 3 phase) you are going to find that the compressor has to work to catch you. But buying a 15,000 dollar 17 hp screw compressor to blast with makes no sense either. Rebuild your pump for 200 bucks every ten years.

[caskwith]

Yep i think so. Plus I like the fact that even though it has to be hardwired into the consumer unit it is still portable enough that I can move it around on my own or with the help of a friend. Wouldn't fancy doing that with a large 3ph compressor.
Mine was just shy of £1000, if I can get it to last 5 years blasting approx 100 pipes a year then thats under £2 per pipe, acceptable in my book.