suitable air compressor for paint spraying

[jiffies]

Hi
Starting to get some surface rust coming through so thought I may tackle it myself with the possibility of spraying the whole van myself in a few years time. I know nothing about air compresssors as yet. However just seen that "Lidl" have a special offer on one next week. Anyone give me any advise whether this would be suitable if not what are the minimum requirements for specification I should be looking for?
Cheers
Jiffies

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl ... _34423.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dazco]

Have a look at the paint your van with a roller at the top of this section. Youll save your self a load of dosh and will get just as good a finish.

[Titus A Duxass]

That compressor is way too small for a van respray.

[New Kentish Campers]

^^^WHS^^^ You will need as large a compressor as can be run from a 13amp power supply. A small compressor like that will be ok initially when you begin to spray a panel and then it will simply run out of puff after a few moments and you risk ruining your work.

[Titus A Duxass]

I, like many others, are interested in buying a compressor.
And like many others get tempted by these low cost offers.
Maybe if somebody in the know could answer some questions like:

Would that compressor cope with say a sliding door?

Would it have enough grunt in the tank to drive a nut gun?

How big would a compressor have to be to do a van respray?

Then we may be able to make a more educated purchase.

[andyb]

Doing respray on my van we hooked up two compressors inline similiar size to this

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PI ... ductsearch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

anything smaller and your wasting your time

[Titus A Duxass]

I've just found this video on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrycRifle6g

As you can see, it doesn't take much usage to bring the compressor back in to action.
That means you'd be spraying by compressor and not tank pressure - not a good thing.

[New Kentish Campers]

Information on compressors is often unclear and can be misleading.

Most manufacturers give their CFM values - cubic feet of air per minute. But what you need to establish is its FAD value, 'free air delivery'. Basically, that means the unrestricted amount of air leaving an open airline, for want of a better way of putting it. Imagine plugging an airline into the compressor's outlet and simply let it run and run. The amout of unrestricted 'free' air leaving the air line is the FAD value. So, a large compressor pump that is driven by a decent size motor then fills a decent sized tank [150 ltrs would be a usable start] would give you sufficient air to complete a respray with the spray gun & air fed-respirator - and assuming you are using a 2 paint product then an even larger tank would be a good bet as the air fed mask will draw a fair bit of air too. Best to use a hvlp spray gun to reduce air consumption. And its vital to make sure the correct filters are used with air fed masks too.

The little compressor thats under discussion here would run an impact driver, but, it could only give enough 'free' air for the initial spurt to give the necessary grunt to shift a nut or bolt. It would then get wheezy and the tool run slow, until the air tank has recharged enough to start all over again, and so on..

And yes, two compressors could be run in tandem, but with their constantly switching in and out as their motors would be out of sync, that could then place too large a switching load on your power supply and begin to trip your main board fuse.

Incidentally, a large compressor that can run from a domestic supply will usually have a capacitor type soft-start so as to avoid the supply fuse from blowing everytime is kicks in.

[Titus A Duxass]

Thank you for your input.
That makes things a bit clearer.

TAD

[jiffies]

Thanks all
Some very useful info
Cheers
Jiffies

[Wookster]

I've 2 compressors, an old 25L and a SIP TN3 100D which is about the same spec as the sealey mentioned above but only a 100 litre tank. Cost me £300ish.

Reckon you could use either for priming a small area you were going to flat back, but neither are any good for a full spray job. Bought the SIP cos it will run on a household supply connected direct NOT via an extension, and will just run a DA sander. Even this though can struggle undoing tight wheel nuts (150lb) once the tank is empty, but copes well with all my other bits and bobs.

Had a quote for a decent power supply to the garage (15m away from fusebox) and the cheapest was £400 for a single 16amp supply, if I did all the digging out!!. New regs etc have made this sort of work incredibly expensive.

Anything smaller than a 3hp compressor will run basic tools fine if you are patient, my old 25L has:-

run an air chisel, waxoyl/shultz spray, finger file and air brush.

As a general comment stuff from lidl is ok with a 3 year warranty but there is no support, just your money back as they only keep stock for 6 weeks.
If you do opt for repair then it's return to manufacturer which for bulky items can be expensive.

[faggie]

i have a sip v head 3 hp 14cfm twin piston compressor with a 150 litre tank this copes with spraying , air tools ie die grinder air ratchet etc the only thing it could do with more umph is sand blasting where it does it does cope but it could do with a bigger tank and its running most of the time