Was looking at this one, its on sale for 335 right now. I would like a 60 gallon but cant justify the $600 for it


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92504

 

For that price, you could have a 60 gallon compressor from Lowes or HomeDepot, which is the route I'm going. For what I do most, I'll never even kick on the compressor to do a job. I use mostly an impact or air wratchet.

 

Well I looked at both those places and Husky is an OK brand but not the greatest for durability and quality from my experience. I guess you could say the question is more is the central pneumatic a good brand?

 

I agree that husky isn't a great brand. I have their 60 gallon compressor and it's a piece of crap. I can't comment on central pneumatic though. I really wish someone who knew their stuff would make a compressor sticky.

 

the cfm is much higher on the harbor freight compressor. is that worth more than the tank size difference?

 

Central Pneumatic is about the cheapest stuff you can get from China. I've got a couple of Central air tools, one is OK, another is crap out of the box (shaft wobble). I've got a Central Pneumatic air filter that does its job, but the air regulator that came with it is complete garbage.

Honestly, I think you'll be rolling the dice with that compressor. You may get a good one; you may get junk. That seems to be how HF tools go. I've had decent tools, I've had junk from them. Make sure you can take it back if it blows up (don't mail order it).

I try not to buy anything at HF any more. They sell a LOT of crap tools.

 

Well I ended up with the homedepot husky for the 60 gallon tank. It will help. It was that or buy a real one at $800+ If I didnt have to sand blast the cheap ones would have been ok, what I got was cheap compared to the rest of course so we'll see how it does. If I get 5yrs from it I'll be happy I guess.

 

I have an HF air compressor that is 4 years old. No problems so far.

 

Well, I plan on picking up a Kobalt 60 gallon in the near future.

 

theres nothing wrong with IR compressors either, if ya got a tractor supply store near you......you will atleast be able to get parts for the compressor if something were to go wrong, im getting the 5hp 80gal one but i'll be using a sandblaster and grinders and body tools on it mostly so i'll need atleast the 18cfm it puts out to keep up with doing bodywork,spraying primer and paint.

 

i got a ir but it was about 2600 bucs, well worth it in the long run, had a cambel hausfield* for about 5 or 6 years and that held up pretty good for a cheap compressor

 

If you get that 5 hp / 80 gal compressor at Tractor Supply, be sure to take REALLY GOOD CARE of it. Change the oil religiously, and run the I-R synthetic oil. My buddy's burned up 2 of 'em. (the SS5N5 model). He treats it like a bad dog though. They're not quite built the same as the higher end (T30 series pump head) I-R compressors. I did a lot of close looking at the whole line of I-R compressors before I bought mine (I-R 2340L5).

 

what did you pick up yours for? ^^^^

 

2 yrs ago, $930 on sale at Grainger. Worth every penny. It was $200 off normal price.

 

Sandblaster?? I'd look at a 2 stage, CAST IRON compressor, 7HP, 80 gallon.
A 5hp/60 gallon will have it's "tongue hangin' out" after about 10 mins of blasting...

 

subscribing...

 

I finally got my Harbor Freight sandblaster figured out... one of those little 40-lb pressurized jobs. Took me 7 years or more to get it figured out. I was using the wrong media (glass beads suck for blasting rust), and I had to rework the plumbing (add extra valve to have higher pressure in the pot than what's flowing past the bottom sand exit).

That said, even that little guy will give the compressor a workout. My compressor got HOT. I have a fan mounted directly over the compressor (suspended from the ceiling), I turned it on - it did help. I also have about 100' of copper tubing and 3 filters / traps between the compressor and the blaster - so I never had to fight water. My setup is designed to condense water out of the air. I do drain my drops, traps, and compressor frequently. I added an extension to the bottom of my compressor so that I can easily drain the compressor (the little valve on the bottom of the tank would be nearly impossible to reach otherwise).

Should you get a little HF sandblaster, DO NOT USE THEIR WATER SEPARATOR that comes with it. The clear plastic 'filter'. They like to catastrophically explode. They are junk.

I found the best media for me was #4 blasting sand from a local industrial supply place. #3 would probably work as well. #5 was too big and clogged the tip too often. This was for blasting rust off of a car frame. Worked great. I do use a forced air / fresh air respirator system with a full head hood. Sand is nasty stuff. Don't breathe it (silicosis).

That blaster did not work well at all with my old Campbell-Hausfeld 1 hp ("5" advertised) / 30 gallon compressor. I did not have any tubing to cool the air, and the compressor started to make water (spit) VERY quickly. Sandblasting is all about keeping the air dry.

 

I'm just blasting aluminum so I'm using a miled blass bead. Its just some prep work for the brackets before they're powder coated. The shop doing the pc also give them an aggressive acid bath. BUT the blaster is handy to have no doubt. Makes refinishing easier and nicer

 

Did you get the compressor running? Don't listen to that guy that says his husky is junk. He has no idea. I have run several different brand compressors from the low-end campbell hausfield, sears etc. to the high-end curtis. The husky one is much better than the bottom tier, it's an iron case.

I am running my 26 gallon husky on 110 at 100% duty cycle for 5-6 hours straight with air grinders and such and it's doing remarkably well.

I also looked at the kobalt at lowes. It looks identical to me as the home depot husky one. Same motor, same pump from what I recall.

 

LOL, not yet, Damn hardware store didnt have squat for doing what I need to do. THey had a breaker and 220 plug box but no plugs to go with it, no dryer power cords.. nothing! I'm kind of cheesed about it right now.