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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