Portable compressor

I bought one for portable use also. For this size you are about in the $100 range. So you can get just about anything. For me the shape was important for storage. Also it needed to have high enough pressure for the tires I'd need to fill, if necessary. Mine is a 3 gal Sears, not the pancake one. So far it has been pretty good, but I don't have a lot of 'miles' on it.
Wayne D.

Mine's a Porter Cable. Had if for several years. Doesn't get that much use but it runs any of my nailers just fine. Awfully noisy though.
RBW wrote:

I was about to say be sure you hear it run before you buy it. I hate to suggest Sears, but a couple years ago they had a small compressor on display that was advertised as being quiet. It was about the size of a fat briefcase, and I believe it said it had an oil reservoir

A lot depends on what you want to do with it. Nail guns don't take a whole lot of air, running a DA or spray gun will. Sears has some small ones that would be suitable for dusting and tire filling, not much else. I had an oil-less Sears that I used for such things. Noisy but not messy if it got tipped over.
Stan

I have a small binks compressor that I use for air brush and similar work - output is about 30 psi and it is quiet and easy to move around - maybe that kind of thing will meet your need - cost me a dollar at a swap meet because the vendors were all abandoning it due to rain.

Light duty, just about anything will do - but don't expect more than 2K to 3K running hours without a rebuild, or scrapping it when you find out it's a Chinese Copy of a Russian design and the repair parts are not available.
If you want one that will live a long time even with moderate duty, get an oil-lubricated pump from a major maker. I hear good things long term about the DeWalt/Emglo and Hitachi portables - when the cheapie portable I inherited dies, that's where I'm spending my money.
How far is it from the shop to the house? If the house is attached, or it's only a 50 foot trench away, consider running a 1/2" Type L Copper pipe (the heavier weight) from the shop compressor to the house, and put an air quick connect in a convenient hall closet.
Use either Copper or Black Steel pipe for air. Copper comes out cleaner, and soldering is a lot easier than threading. And whether the air line goes underground or overhead in the attic, remember to slope the pipes and put tees with condensation drain valves at all the low spots. Underground drains can be in a plastic sprinkler valve handhole. Water can freeze in the winter, you want to get it out of the air lines periodically.
WARNING: NEVER USE PVC PLASTIC WATER PIPE FOR COMPRESSED AIR - it shatters rather easily if impacted or disturbed while under pressure and the fragments act like a hand grenade, with similar results. You don't want to be there - then again, you are probably the source of the disturbance, so you will have a front-row seat...
(They do make a special green CPVC pipe that is safe for compressed air, it's meant for chemical plants with corrosive atmospheres. Copper is both cheaper and easier to get than that stuff.)
Either that, or consider that hose is cheap. You can buy a lot of hose for the cost of a good portable pancake compressor - and it has the added bonus that you don't have to listen to that compressor wailing away right next to you.
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