Need recommendation for a air compressor

Husky will work fine for inflating tires or running a small nail gun. It will be a loud, vibrating single stage imported air compressor, probably impossible to get parts for. However, it is much cheaper than what most guys on this NG recommend, which is to buy a Quincy or Ingersoll Rand.

I suggest looking in your area at used industrial compressors.

Grant

Thanks for the info. What about Campbell-Hausfeld is also no good?

Alex

I believe C-H is Husky.

And, I beg to differ with Grant. I have a 26 gal vertical Husky, bought "damaged" at HD for half-price, with a compressor head virtually identical to those found on SpeedAire. In fact, that's why I bought it, because I heard a fellow's SpeedAire, and marveled at how quiet it was. Recognized the head on the HD Husky.

It is a cast iron head, oil, belt drive, with a 115/230V motor, heavy flywheel--all good things. And tech support that actually had a clue about re-wiring the motor. There is a 1-800 number right on the tank, which works!

My only complaint is that altho the regulator has a set-able pressure spring, there is no differential spring--even tho it looks like it has one, as there are two springs. But they both do the same thing. Bummer.

I took off the fan belt shroud to get more of a fan effect from the flywheel spokes, and re-plumbed the whole thing, with extra make-up tanks to get around 60 gal or so, and multiple quick disconnects, etc. I also wired in a separate relay for the motor, so that the pressure regulator just switches relay coil current, and not full motor load. Should last much longer that way.

My friend, however, has a big-assed 80+ gal Husky two-stage, which burnt out in about a year, and was noisey. Also, the fellow with the quiet SpeedAire also has a larger two-stage SpeedAire, which is much more noisey than his small single stage, and with head problems he had to fix. Go figger.

The consensus here is to avoid Sears compressors at all costs. Avoid aluminum heads (they say), direct drive, and oil-less. Altho I have an Alton 10 gal aluminum direct drive *with* oil! Sam's club, $99. Noisey pita, tho, but it works. Use it mostly as a makeup tank.

The compressor is for shop air, and a Fadal cnc milling machine, which uses a lot of air. And yeah, I'm the envy of my neighbors when it comes to filling tires. :)

If he is close to California..he can have a decent Champion that is collecting dust in the back 40. Needs new rod bearings. Simple job.

Gunner

I have had a good luck with my Curtis compressor, which I bought used.

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:18:39 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, Grant Erwin quickly quoth:

Ditto, or if not, going to Harbor Freight and buying a Quincy pump to put on the old, dead Husky setup. HF sells good stuff, too. (Or did.)

-- Mistrust the man who finds everything good, the man who finds everything evil, and still more the man who is indifferent to everything. -- Johann K. Lavater

I shopped metal graveyards (local scrap dealer) for about five years until I found what I wanted.

I found a thoroughly-holed OLD (old!) 80-gallon horizontal rig with a Quincy pump on it, for $0.10/lb. About $40.00, IIRC.

$40 bought a very nice, heavily galvanized, 120-gallon vertical direct-burial propane tank. About $150 bought regulator, water trap, pop-off valve, gauges, and a new check valve.

"Free" bought a 5HP Baldor motor with starter, and with a bad bearing. "Shop says it can't be fixed for what a new one's worth." $12.00 bought a new bearing. $8.00 one new cap for the motor.

Six or seven hours of welding, fitting, and painting. About two hours to re-face the pump's valves and seats.

Bottom line was under $300 -- About the price of a brand new Husky from Home Despots. I'll let you figure out the relative quality and usefulness of the two. Mine's on 24/7, and never, ever runs unless I'm actually using air, or forget to pull the blow gun off my line when I'm done. (I simply _cannot_ find a blow gun that doesn't leak a little ....)

Now, I've got a compressor I'll probably never replace, and fix seldom, with all standard, off-the-shelf components.

LLoyd

Lloyd, what a great story. My experience fixing a bad 5HP Baldor motor was about same. $10 in bearings and an hour of work got it done.

You have a very nice compressor with that big tank, etc.

Gunner,

I am in Bay Area. you email box is not accepting emails. It's probably full.

Alex

Yup, those Quincys are great. I got a well-used Quincy 2-cyl single-stage compressor that needed very little work to get running at a scrap yard. It had pneumatic controls, so the motor ran all the time. I changed that over to unload during start and shut the motor off after a minute with no more air demand. All I had to get at the compressor shop was an air filter, a pressure relief and the recommended oil, and it worked like a champ. I upped the motor from 1 to 2 Hp and changed the pulley to absorb the 2 Hp. Amazingly, it was actually quieter at 900 RPM than at 450 (I think the intake valves were bouncing)!

Jon

Quincy!

Harold

Well, since everyone is talking used-high end over here, I'll mention old Kellogg-American, which has proved to be pert-near indestuctible, run even without oil.

A 5 hp 3 ph, very high cfm, was mistakenly set at *at least* 180 psi for years (shop air at that time was a veritable *weapon*), and rarely had oil added, or the sludge removed from the bottom of the very large tank. And lub-dub quiet, for a big-ish shop compressor. Said sludge--the awful-est white sticky goop you can imagine--would be drained from the tank, gallons upon gallons of it, when sed goop started shooting out of air hoses 50 feet away. goodgawd... Quite freudian, actually....

Also, I think I'm the baddest em effer in this group, as I got FOUR quincies! :) :) And, I'd be even badder, iffin any of'em were running. :( The g-d flywheels weigh 45 pounds each!

But, if quiet is any indication, the Husky I mentioned is wonderful, as would be any unit with that head. C-H indicated to me that they are the one's who indeed make that head, and supply it to SpeedAire, among others. I just hope that it is as long-lived as it is quiet.

Saturdays, Sundays, most mondays.

I have a forklift so I can load you.

Gunner

My standby is Kellog. Nice pump. Got it for $100, freshly rebuilt.

When I find a 5hp single phase motor..it will become my primary.

Gunner

Alex, Shopping for a good air compressor is tough for most of us. Sticker shock is common. My first compressor is a Speedaire from Grainger. It's only a two HP single phase unit. It is one bullet proof little unit. I needed more air so I bought a slightly used Devilbiss 5 hp. It is VERY similar to the Sears and Ingersol Rand and others of the day. They were using ALL aluminum jugs then. Poor longevity. Just now changing pump on that unit. 10 years is not too bad for 350 bucks. Back to the point. Based on my experience with the Speedaire unit I can recommend that brand. But you must realize that with our world economy; there is no telling where components are made. Just do your research and buy the best unit you can possibly afford. Although I cannot recommend this brand; I would check out SAYLOR-BEALL. I am very impressed with the pump cut-away. And the valves. Had I mot already bought my new pump; I would have ordered on of theirs. Hope this helps.

We're sort of in the same boat - our Sears-Roebuck branded (probably Speedaire) 35-year old compressor is ready for replacement with a larger unit.

I keep watching craigslist for something in the local area but not much is available around here (Salem, Oregon area).

I've also surfed eBay and found a seller (eatoncompressor) who appears to manufacture compressors to order and has great feedback - only drawback is freight from Ohio, but his listings are very informative.

A current listing is for item 130143183988. Has anyone on this list bought from this seller?

Carla If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

Carla,

There are a few folks on Practical Machinist that have Eaton's and seem to like them.

Mike