What to look for in an air compressor.

[Iwant1]

John could we get a bit more real life usage of the hydrovane 5 series.

I've been looking on ebay for some time now and they do come up often for around £300, which I don't mind paying, but when I read the specs of the 501, it only produces 4.2 cfm FAD. Seems crap against say a £300 secondhand 150ltr Sealey/Abac/Clarke with 14cfm. Would the 501 easily allow for some spray painting, blasting, sanding. Could it even be used for blowing chips away.

Feel like I have to look at a big 3 phase hydorvanes to get any where near descent Ccfm. But then these are a huge step up, with ratings of 20+ cfm.

Are the hydrovane and regular compressor cfm's not comparable?

Cheers Adil

[AdCNC]

Lol John how did you know i was talking about you :-p

[martin54]

Hope this isn't classed as a hijack it is about air compressors lol.

Read what John was saying about compressor outputs & that he had said to look out for hydrovane series 5 units but I'm not sure if something that size would do for the blast cabinet, the 5 series from what I can see chucks out about 5 cfm & the blast cabinet needs a minimum of 7 cfm @ 80 psi, more would be better.
Realise from Johns post that those figures might not mean a lot so needing a bit of help with what might be suitable without having to take out a loan.

[m_c]

I've got the small clarke blast cabinet, which supposedly requires 10cfm at 80-100psi, however my 3hp cheapo keeps up with it reasonably well.
Constant blasting does mean the compressor never stops, so I do stop occasionally to give it a rest, but it's not caused any issues so far.

I suspect a Hydrovane 5 might be a bit on the small size, however you could always couple it into your existing compressor, and run them side by side.

[martin54]

I was actually hoping to get away from the cheapo compressors because of the noise they make, even with a pair of ear defenders on it's a bit loud lol. Had thought about running 2 machines together & haven't entirely written the idea off but I'm not in a huge rush to get it going at the moment. Will kind of manage to do my wheels with it even if it does take a lot longer than it should & glass etching will probably need a lot less pressure although I haven't really researched that at the moment.
Pity I don't have a 3 phase supply in the unit as you seem to be able to pick up used screw compressors at a reasonable price although I haven't looked at the running costs of them.

[Swarfing]

Martin you can hook a compressor up to a vfd so they are not out of the question.