Looking to be my own mechanic and am in need of advice on air compressors.
Is it true craftsman is shit now?
The heaviest tools I'm looking to use include air hammers and die grinders.
How many scfms should I look for? Will 5.8 work?
Craftsman has been shit for years. On par with any other chicom compressor like the Harbor Freight crap.
Capacity depends upon how heavily you'll be using the die grinder (or other tools). Die grinders use a huge volume of air. Most are rated at a 15sec run time per minute. They'll easily go through 20cfm+ going full bore, constantly.
5.8 will run most die grinders in all but the most demanding home shop situations. You'll be taking a lot of breaks waiting for the compressor to catch up if you're using it for an extended amount of time.
>>1004239
Depends on who made it for them. Craftsman, Kobalt, Husky, etc. are all house brands. Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. do not make anything, they contract with other companies to make it for them and put their branding on it.
So, find out who the OEM is on the compressor you are looking at and see if they make good stuff. For Craftsman is pretty easy. The model number of the compressor will be something like ###.#####. The first 3 numbers will be the manufacturer code. You wont find this code on their website. You will need to find it on the machine itself. Look it up, find the model it is based on and go from there.
The Craftsman compressors in your pic are horrible.
Want a lifetime air compressor? Look for a used Speedaire or buy new, but they ain't cheap. They are quiet and industrial quality.
Air hammers and die grinders like CFM so get the largest air tank you can even if your pump is smallish. You can still FILL a large tank with a small pump but refill time will be longer.
Run the largest diameter air hose you can for best flow with die grinders.
Also consider an electric die grinder. Milwaukee 5196s aren't cheap, but develop more torque than pneumatic grinders and are a joy to use.
What sort of work and what size air tools do you have in mind?
>>1004239
>Is it true craftsman is shit now?
Their hand tools have taken a dive when they went to china. With that said, their USA stuff was getting pretty shitty before the move anyways.
Their power tools lawn mowers and anything not hand tools has been chinese junk for 30 years.
>>1004252
>>1004254
Tanks m8
>>1004676
First and foremost, mechanical work. But after I get a few goals accomplished and more cash flow, I'd like to get into metal and wood work as well as forging and welding.
Basically just dumb hobby shit.
UPDATE: I ended up going with the kolbalt 60 gallon with a capacity of 11.5 cfms @ 90psi.
Figure it should handle what I need with room to grow.
>>1004676
Tools acquired so far.
