Are all compressors equal

Personally I prefer the "garage" style compressors, as I have my hobby room plumbed for air. Currently I have a 3 gallon tank (around 27 liters using the bigger British gallon), when and if it passes on to the big compressor spray booth in the sky, I'll replace it with a 5 or 10 gallon tank. Then again, I a tool pig!

The bigger the tank, the less the compressor has to work, the longer the compressor will likely last. Depending on your own personal setup, you may find that it works very well.

Tanks can collect a far amount of moisture. You'll find that there is a drain on the tank to remove the excess water. Make sure that you have a moisture trap located as close to the airbrush as possible. I ended up with three in total: one at the tank, one at the regulator mounted in my spray booth and an inline one on the hose to the airbrush. Water and paint do not play together well!

Well, you're supposed to do it everytime you empty the air out of the tank. Which is supposed to be everytime you've finished using it. Fact is I RARELY empty the air out, which means I RARELY have drained the tank. Goodness knows what lurks inside there now!

You, on the other hand, are a good person, so I'm sure you will do it correctly.

In most shops I've worked in the past, the rule of thumb was to blow down the air system once a month unless you have a stretch of hi humidity, then it's once a week. Biggest reason is the damage moisture can do to a system that uses iron pipes.  Otherwise you just check the moisture trap daily (first use of the day) and blow down the traps as needed.  Since my system I rigged in the basement is PVC pipe, I blow it down every couple of months or so.  Still empty the moisture trap at the beginning of each painting section though.

For added capacity (my little aircompressor has a 5 gal tank) I inserted a 25 gallon airtank out of a semi that I found at the dump (prior to that I had a couple of the old WW II oxygen tanks - the yellow ones).  Compressor runs for a while when you first start it up, but after it quits I figure I can airbrush for about 7 to 8 hrs before it kicks in again.

Thanks Bill.... LOL.... you tooQuincy....

I'll try for the theory Bill advises, but will likely hold to what Quincy does. Eventually ending up in Bill's reality. LOL

DavidM wrote:

I have just ordered a badger 100LG and am about to purchase a compressor to feed it. Initially I was swaying to a locally available modelling compressor, a Puma 6L having a 4 Bar (56psi?) max pressure, and 34L/min, at an approximate local price of R2500. However I visited a LHS, which actually specialises in RC, and the "expert" there suggested that I go for a "semi industrial" model with a 25L tank and 8 bar maximum pressure,costing only R1500, the idea being that the tank, because of its capacity and pressure, only has be be repressurised at longer intervals and the time taken to repressurise the tank only being a couple of minutes. Am I being given a load of hogwash or does this actually make sense? Obviously if the compressor is running for any length of time, or very frequently, noise would be a serious issue but once every half hour or so for a couple of minutes would be aceptable.

David,

With a 25L tank, the compressor must be pretty good size. If noise concerns you, don't buy the cheap oilless type compressor. An oiled tool compressor is much quieter and lasts longer. It is an option if you can put it far away from your living and airbrushing area.

It is a lot of money for the R2500 Puma, but the specification is suspiciously lacking. It is fine if it pumps 34L/min AT 4 Bar. I paid US$130 (about R1000) for a Paasche DA400. It has better spec than the Puma 6L. I understand that the market situation in South Africa may be different.

Please, see my post about my recent experience of upgrading the compressor.