Recommend me a garage air compressor

[rjsmith26]

Fed up with tyre inflation for bike and car with 12v portable compressors.

Looking to buy workshop compressor - main use, tyre inflation, airline for drying,cleaning dust. Will poss by some air tools as time moves on but not critical.

Any recommendations on power/capacity/physical size?/ oil less or oiled? / direct or belt drive?

Like the look of the SIP upright units.

Budget up to £200 including tyre inflator And cleaning tool.

Cheers in advance

 

[Cook1e]

For the uses you list (bar one - more below), just go for cheap & cheerful. Aldi/Lidl have German market ones at around £60 from time to time.

The only thing that mitigates against that advice is " Will poss by some air tools as time moves on but not critical." If you are serious, look at what tools you want, note the air consumption and base your choice on that. Typically (off the top of my head, feel free to correct me...) die grinder 8cfm, impact gun 4 - 8 cfm, air ratchet 4cfm, spray gun 4 - 10 cfm and so on.

If you decide you are serious, 2.5 hp is the biggest that you can run from a 13 amp socket, though 3 hp will run from a fused spur on a ring main. Direct drive is cheaper and noisier than belt drive, belt drive is probably more reliable, get the biggest tank you can afford and certainly no smaller than 50 litres, allow for a water separator in your budget, cast iron cylinders harder wearing than aluminium, yada yada

Probably best to get a cheap one for now and upgrade if you want tools in future. Machine Mart have a range to confuse the hell out of you...

I recently bought a 16 cfm 150 litre Wolf which I think was value for money - UK Home Shopping import and service these, so I figure at least parts are available and a 2-year warranty.

If you can drop on a good used compressor (e.g. workshop closing down) you will get a bargain if it's not buggered. Professional kit costs, but you get what you pay for and you could get used pro (e.g. Atlas Copco) for the price of new Wolf or Machine Mart.

No doubt other compressor users will be along in a minute to give you some completely contradictory advice

 

[JJH]

I agree with above cheap compressor and spend money on good guage you can upgrade later. I have a long line about 50 feet on a a retractable reel and it makes checking tyers a doddle JJH

 

[Neil W]

With a smaller compressor with say a 50 litre tank and rated at 9cfm (about 4 to 6 cfm fad) you will be able to run a non hvlp spray gun, tyre inflater, blow gun etc but forget about air drills, air ratchets, grinders or windy guns.
I ran a SIP direct drive one for years and have done a fair bit of spraying but forget about the tools.
I recently got a single phase 3hp belt driven compressor with a 250 litre tank, 15 cfm fad to run a blast cabinet, it was a recon unit from Shiremoor Compressors, ( they advertise in all the bike mags) and cost £350, takes up a load of room and is very noisy

 

[rjsmith26]

Thanks for feedback chaps all really useful. Final question - recommendations on a "good" tyre inflator tool for my new compressor when I aquire - looked around web but not many comparison sites by the looks of things on air tools.

 

[Cook1e]

Just bought this one. About £30 on FleaBay.

LINKY

Make sure that the business end will fit in between the spokes. DAMHIK