Does anyone here use the 7 gallon, 2 hp Sears Companion compressor for airbrushing? How loud is it? How often does it kick on to refill during model painting time? How long does it take to refill to the max when it kicks in? Does it have leakage on its stock attachments such as the regulator and the pipes?
David Kennesaw, GA
More about how I plan to use such a compressor:
I have a closet that I can put a loud compressor in. It will be about 15 ft away from the paint room with two insulated sheet rock walls helping keep the sound away. I can run the airline to the room & attach it to the Badger
0 to 60 regulator/gauge/filter in the paint room. I hope this will work out ok. I'm not looking forward to coughing up an airbrush and cleaning paint out of my hair when that thing kicks in.David Kennesaw, GA
I use two GMC brand ones sold in the Bunnings hardware stores in Brisbane, Australia, there should be a local similar cheap unit on your side of the world.
The GMC one is 40 litre tank and it runs up to 120 psi, then bleeds down to a kick in pressure of about 80 psi. I have not airbrushed with it yet, but it runs my rattle gun for the car pretty well. The unit I have has two outlets that can be used, one direct from the tank and the other after the built in regulator. I use the direct outlet to run my air tools and the regulated will be used for airbrushing.
If I want to get a bit more tank reserve, and a bit more grunt, then I connect the second compressor via the direct connection and use a T piece in that line to power the air tools. Just buy the ends and join them to a home made one metre long air line. One of the compressors cuts in before the other, but it is less than 5 pounds of difference, and it works just as happily without any further adjustment. This suits me as the compressors can fit in the back of my wagon with the wheels on, and the capacity of both units together is great. Just needs two power points. Still, remember that you are doing this as a hobby, you are not a tyre store and these little compressors will run fairly quietly compared to bigger units. If you want to reduce the noise from your compressor, then add an extra filter to the air inlet. Even just a big piece of foam tied around it will help. (Not over the cooling fan for the motor stupid!)
You can also use the cheap reserve tank of a truck tyre and a T piece with the one compressor. This might give you enough pressure to paint for longer before getting up to restart the compressor. If you use an extension cord and have a plug at your feet, you can control when the compressor starts and you won't get a nasty surprise while painting that fine detail.......
These small compressors work well for household work and will run most things. Spray painting a full scale car would be slow, but doing a bonnet and waiting a couple of minutes halfway through to let the compressor catch up is not a problem. I expect my airbrush will be happy and work well, as it doesn't use as much air as a car sized gun. It sould give me a good run and I'll have to try it soon......
Hope the ideas help, Peter
Well, I'll tell you! I bought a 4 gallon job from Sears a couple of years ago and it works just fine. It came with a pressure gauge and valve to allow careful adjustment of pressure. I put a second pressure valve and gauge after the one on the tank to allow better control. True, it is a bit of a jolt when the motor kicks in unexpectedly, but I can paint with out any pulsation effects and the water trap eliminates those occasional splotches of water that used to come through in humid weather. I'm quite happy with it.
Bill Shuey
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