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Selecting the Right Air Compressor for Your Air Tool
What to Look For When Buying an Air Compressor for Your Air Tools
By Mark J. Donovan
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One of the best decisions I made as a DIY homeowner was to
buy a pneumatic nail gun and air compressor. Whether it’s installing
baseboard trim or nailing down decking boards, my nail gun dramatically
shortens the amount of time I spend nailing lumber. It also helps to do a
neater nailing job, and automatically countersinks the nails for me. Besides
a nail gun, there are a host of other air compressor driven air tools
including paint sprayers, drills, air sanders, air hammers, and wrenches.
Like the nail gun, with all of these tools they enable their respective
purpose to be done faster and better. |
Besides accomplishing their function faster and
better, air tools also provide much more power than
electrical power tools. For example, with pneumatic
drills they provide higher rotational speeds (RPM),
which helps to achieve faster and cleaner cuts, or
to remove material more quickly if using an air
sander. Similarly, with air wrenches, they provide
much more torque than the regular hand wrench. Air
tools are also much lighter since they do not
contain electric motors, and in general are cheaper
over the long haul than electric power tools.
Finally they typically last longer since they have
less electro-mechanical parts to fail, e.g. there
are no electric motors to burn out in them.
When selecting an air compressor always select one
that can serve multiple air tools. For example, if
you’re considering buying a pancake air compressor
and a finished nail gun to install some trim
moulding, think twice before settling on the pancake
air compressor. Once you actually experience the
benefits of an air tool and compressor it’s hard to
turn back. Consequently you’ll find yourself
eventually wanting to buy that framing nail gun, or
air wrench and with these air tools you’ll find
yourself needing a much larger air compressor than a
pancake type.
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When deciding upon an air compressor it’s important
that you buy one that can support the CFM (Cubic
Foot per Minute) rate at a specified PSI (Pounds per
Square Inch) level of the specific air tools you
expect to use with it. Also, if you plan to run more
than one tool off of the air compressor at any one
time, you’ll want to make sure that the air
compressor has a large enough volume to support the
total CFM rate, at their required PSI level, for the
multiple tools. |
Otherwise the air compressor will either constantly
be cycling on and off, which will become annoying in
short order, and/or it won’t produce enough power to
support, for example, two nail guns simultaneously.
Also what winds up happening when operating two nail
guns on too small of an air compressor is that the
nails are not properly sunk into the wood material
and you find yourself going back and sinking them
with a hammer. If planning to operate 2 framing nail
guns off an air compressor I would highly recommend
buying at least a 15 gallon air compressor.
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Most air tools require CFM rates between 0 and 5
CFM, however there are a few larger air tools such
as sanders that can require up to 20CFM. Also, as is
the case with most air tools, framing nail guns
typically require a PSI level of 90 PSI. To
determine how many tools you can run on an air
compressor simultaneously just add up the specific
CFM rates of the tools and compare it to the rating
of the air compressor. My recommendation is that the
total number of CFMs required of the air tools
should be less than 75% of the CFM rating for the
air compressor.
In regards to the size of air compressor tank to go
with, I suggest the larger the better, to a point.
Again, I find a 15 or 20 gallon air compressor to
handle my typical diy projects adequately, however I
am not a framing contractor nailing up exterior
sheathing or subfloors every day. I have personally
found a 15 gallon air compressor to be sufficient
for operating one or two framing nail guns
simultaneously at a moderate nailing rate.
Keep in mind that the larger the air compressor tank
the less often it has to cycle on and off which cuts
down on the noise around the job site. This said, a
large air compressor can be difficult to store when
not using it, so keep that in mind when deciding
upon an air compressor. I would also recommend the
horizontal air compressor as they are more portable
than the vertical types. The 15 to 20 gallon
horizontal ones usually come on wheels and have a
handle to roll them around.
Gasoline vs Electrical Air Compressor
If you are a DIY homeowner then I would recommend
the electrical air compressor. For most diy
homeowners they have electricity on the job site.
Also, there are no dangerous fumes with electrical
air compressors. If you are a contractor on the
other hand, or know you are going to be working on a
job site without electricity or without at least a
generator, then I would suggest buying a gasoline
air compressor.
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Additional Finish Carpentry Resources
Air Compressors and Air Tools from Amazon.com
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