Air Compressor

[G coco]

What size air compressor is a good fit for a home shop? I do plan on painting with it also.
And what type of attachments are recomended or come in handy for a home build.
I have a year to get my garage set up before the kit is delivered. I have a three car garage so i do have a good amount of area to work with.

[Dave S]

Glenn,

What serves most of us well is to first determine what kind of paint gun you will use for painting your plane. That will tell you what pressure and CFM you need to supply from your air compressor. I used a Binks # 7 gun (a classic for auto painting) which can be outfitted with different needles and caps which will each have a different compressed air consumption rate. Also used a cheap gravity touch up gun which had a much lower consumption rate so that didn't matter. Wouldn't necessarily recommend the Binks as it is a siphon feed non-HVLP but that is what I had and the air compressor which worked was rated at 90 PSI @ 6 CFM. Different equipment uses different air consumption rates. Also a person doesn't necessarily need to have an air compressor that delivers constant requirements of the gun because a person will probably not be running continuously.

It is a real good idea to have a filter and adjustable regulator. Compressed air will have both water and oil in some amount which can ruin a person's paint job. Quick couplers on the hoses and gun are almost essential.

I didn't use the air for anything other than painting; but, others have and I am sure you will get some good ideas on other accessories.

[efwd]

I used a 25gal, oiless Craftsman. I used an inline filter and a regulator at the gun. My guns were sold as a pair. Their HVLP and cost me only about $70 at Harbor Fr. I used PolyTone paint and it all went pretty well. Only problem was my lack of skills. You may need better spray equipment for higher quality paint. I used the compressor with air driven tools like my 1/2" belt sander and my rivet puller.

[mike92104]

What kind of power do you have available in your garage?

[Delta Whisky]

"The compressor I bought is too big" - words never said by anyone. :)

[Dave S]

Yup - that's the one - right after a person on their deathbed would never say...."Gee I wish I had never built, flown and enjoyed that airplane"

BINGO!

[109JB]

Well... I have 4 compressors at this point in time. A 80 gallon 5 hp 230 volt stationary for my shop, a 30 gallon 3 hp 120 volt, a 4 gallon jobsite compressor, and a 3 gallon 1 hp silent air compressor at the hangar.

The first one I ever bought was an oiless tankless craftsman that was noisier than anything ever invented and without a tank ran continuous whenever you used it.Lasted almost no time before it burned up and about started on fire. After that experience I swore off that style oiless comperssor altogether mainly because of the noise. The newer oiless silent and oil lubed compressors are much quieter.

Next I bought the 30 gallon compressor which was about 28 years ago and it is still running. This is a great all-around size but this particular compressor tends to trip GFCI's on startup. It is 28 years old though

The jobsite compressor was purchased for house building and really could do most everything for a Kitfox build if you choose the right tools.

The 80 gallon I got from a friend for free because the motor crapped out. There is a electric motor rebuilder a few towns over and I bought a 5 hp compressor motor for I think $75 from then and put it on. I run a lot of air tools that require high CFM, so this compressor is a must for me. DA sander, air die grinders, impact guns, etc. Not things that are required for a kitfox build. It also is really loud and required its own little insulated room.

The 1 hp 3 gallon silent was bought just for filling tires, a little blow gun dusting, etc. at the hangar, but I have to say that I love that little $100 compressor. I got it on clearance at Menards because they were discontinuing that model but it is very very quiet, recharges quickly and runs sooo smooth.

So having said all that, if I were starting over and wanted to get a good all around compressor for a home shop keeping in mind that the primary purpose is to build a Kitfox, I would go for a 2-3 hp silent air compressor with a 20-30 gallon tank. The silent compressors have won me over, not only because of the lack of noise, but because they run so smooth. A quick search turned up this one:

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200746787_200746787

The specs are good on it but I don't have any experience with this particular brand.

[G coco]

Glenn,

What serves most of us well is to first determine what kind of paint gun you will use for painting your plane. That will tell you what pressure and CFM you need to supply from your air compressor. I used a Binks # 7 gun (a classic for auto painting) which can be outfitted with different needles and caps which will each have a different compressed air consumption rate. Also used a cheap gravity touch up gun which had a much lower consumption rate so that didn't matter. Wouldn't necessarily recommend the Binks as it is a siphon feed non-HVLP but that is what I had and the air compressor which worked was rated at 90 PSI @ 6 CFM. Different equipment uses different air consumption rates. Also a person doesn't necessarily need to have an air compressor that delivers constant requirements of the gun because a person will probably not be running continuously.

It is a real good idea to have a filter and adjustable regulator. Compressed air will have both water and oil in some amount which can ruin a person's paint job. Quick couplers on the hoses and gun are almost essential.

I didn't use the air for anything other than painting; but, others have and I am sure you will get some good ideas on other accessories.Thanks Dave. I did notice on a video I was watching that the person had an inline filter for his compressor, and living in Florida, there's almost always some amount of humidity present!

[109JB]

Oh. I forgot. The 80 gallon 5 hp compressor is too big for my needs but it was essentially free so I guess I can't say I "bought" too big of an air compressor.

BTW, before I got the 80 gallon, If I needed more CFM, I would tee together my jobsite and 30 gallon compressors and that would give me more CFM for air tools. In the shop I essentially had them teed together all the time but only ever turned on the 30 gallon unless I needed more CFM. Of course that all ended when I got the 80. I originally had it teed together too before I fixed the motor on it but the 2 hp 30 gallon ran FOREVER trying to recharge 114 gallon of tanks.

[G coco]

I used a 25gal, oiless Craftsman. I used an inline filter and a regulator at the gun. My guns were sold as a pair. Their HVLP and cost me only about $70 at Harbor Fr. I used PolyTone paint and it all went pretty well. Only problem was my lack of skills. You may need better spray equipment for higher quality paint. I used the compressor with air driven tools like my 1/2" belt sander and my rivet puller.Thanks Eddie! I believe it was you who sowede a pic of the belt sander and said that you used it quite often!!

[G coco]

Yup - that's the one - right after a person on their deathbed would never say...."Gee I wish I had never built, flown and enjoyed that airplane"

BINGO!Haha!! Roger that!!!

[G coco]

What kind of power do you have available in your garage?Just the standard 15-20 amp, three prong outlets

[efwd]

That is true. My oiless compressor is very loud, pretty much stops any conversation until it stops. 120v outlets is all I have. This compressor will trip the CFI if anything else is on that circuit. I bought this thing in 2000. It hasn't had a lot of use so I don't really know how robust it really is.

[Dusty]

With air compressors bigger is always better ,but setup is critical. A large pressure differential between cut in and cut out us undesirable when painting. Also don't have the moisture trap too close to the compressor or warm moist air will get through. An after cooler is easy to set up and worth the extra effort.