Air Compressor Advice

[Ben4]

Hi folks,

I'm new here and a relative novice!

I'm in the process of building out my workshop and I'd really appreciate some advice if anyone has a minute please :-)

I see loads of pro detailers have huge compressors with dryers and filters running at 20CFM+ and 150psi with 200l tanks. Many of these rely on either 3-phase power, or are very noisy petrol type machines.

My question is whether this is really necessary, or whether a say 12CFM machine with 50-100l at around 100psi would be sufficient (I don't have 3-phase)?

I'd rather get my workshop right first time than spend more money later (even if this means looking at installing 3 Phase) but I'm not doing this for a living - just for me, family and friends.

Any thoughts gratefully received!

Thanks!

[mc2hill]

First off, Welcome Ben!

What will you be using the air compressor for? Just light tasks - airing up tires, etc., maybe some light work with tools (brad nailer, etc.), or are you looking to run paint guns and air wrenches?

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole with this I recommend checking out The Garage Journal.

[GarageKing]

Hey There,

I originally had a 120V single cylinder compressor (20 gallon) in my garage about 10 years ago and it was just not enough. I now have an Ingersol Rand 2 cylinder (2 stage) 240V 80 gallon and it is perfect. I paint vehicles and the flow is more than enough for a paint gun. For really tight bolts it can do 150 PSI for and impact gun (but I run it around 110PSI most of the time)

When using a 1/4 die grinder it can keep it going without running down. The only thing is if you are going to use a big air grinder then it would probably run down after a few min of continuous use. I would definitely get a 240V twin two stage if you can swing it. Most 240V are 5hp or more so the continuous output should be good.

[GarageKing]

@mc2hill makes a great point in his post. Depending on what you are doing you may not need a really big compressor. When you wrote you were building out your garage I took it to mean you would be doing a variety of work and not just light work. If all you are doing is tires and light tools then a 120V single cylinder is more than adequate.

[dgage]

The one tool I think of when discussing compressed air and detailing is the Tornador cleaning guns. And also maybe using compressed air to blow water out of crevices or emblems. Any small compressor could work if you rarely use them or use them slowly. If you are planning to do production work, you'll want the bigger compressors (200L) or your compressor will run too often. Most don't realize that air compressors have duty cycles and non-commercial compressors are supposed to have quite a bit of recover time so the compressor motor can cool down. So let us know your planned usage and we can help.

And if it is just for tires periodically, I actually like using something like the Milwaukee M12 cordless compressor as it is easier to move around.

EDIT: Found this compressor test for Tornador Black usage and thought this might be helpful.

Tornador: compressor test

[Ben4]

Thanks mc2hill!
Truth is I don’t rally know now but I don’t want to be caught out in a years time. I imagine I’ll be blowing out the crud, pumping tyres, probs removing/replacing wheels with an impact wrench (or similar) etc.
From what I’ve seen, not much point in a newbie using air polishers...

[Ben4]

Hey! Thanks... not looked at two stage but I’ll do so now - from what you say, maybe it’s what I should be looking at.

[Ben4]

The one tool I think of when discussing compressed air and detailing is the Tornador cleaning guns. And also maybe using compressed air to blow water out of crevices or emblems. Any small compressor could work if you rarely use them or use them slowly. If you are planning to do production work, you'll want the bigger compressors (200L) or your compressor will run too often. Most don't realize that air compressors have duty cycles and non-commercial compressors are supposed to have quite a bit of recover time so the compressor motor can cool down. So let us know your planned usage and we can help.

And if it is just for tires periodically, I actually like using something like the Milwaukee M12 cordless compressor as it is easier to move around.

EDIT: Found this compressor test for Tornador Black usage and thought this might be helpful.

Tornador: compressor test

Thank you very much - I hadn’t realised there was a duty cycle and that you can’t just expect a smaller one to run longer... interesting!

[Ed Abbondanzio]

I've got a 60 gallon Quincy that's 240v and 2 stage in my shop. It can run 2 Tornador blacks at the same time or handle things like die grinders, or a sand blaster. For a one man show it's perfect. You can get them shipped for right about $1300 if I remember right.

I really like that it's blue too.

[2black1s]

The bottom line when selecting an air compressor is output CFM and Pressure.

First you need to determine the CFM and Pressure requirements for the tools and operations you plan to do. Once you know that you can make the selection of the compressor. Size and HP are irrelevant marketing hype... CFM and Pressure are the key.