Compressor's (Sparmax), any comments?

Hello,

I know a little about decibel levels being in aviation all my life and I can give you a few references with decibel levels to help you get an understanding about how loud something may be.

Normal conversation with people about 3 to 5 feet from each other is usually consider to be in a range of 60 to 70 decibels. Someone whispering is around 30 decibels.

A lawn mower is normally around 109 decibels. Anything above 90 decibels is consider harmful to hearing in a prolong condition.

I think 50 to 55, while not a whisper is less than normal people talking to each other. I have a Power Jet Pro and I would think it is somewhere between whispering, 30 decibels and 50 which is less than normal conversation.

If your work area is not too terribly small you should find 50 to 55 not that bad especially if the compressor shuts off automatically when you are not spraying.

I forgot to mention there is a clear difference in detection of plus or minus 5 decibels. So you should be able to hear a clear difference between those two compressors you mentioned.

Hope this helps you out.

Charles

Many of the name brand airbrush compressors sold in the US are made by a factory in Taiwan, Sparmax, including the Iwata's. Their products have good reputation in quality. I am not familiar with the compressors sold at WonderLandModels. But they sure bear some resemblance to the Sparmax products.

The noise level seems to be pretty good. You can carry a normal conversation without raising your voice when the compressor is below 59 dbA in noise. You can find some subjective noise level information here.

Yes, well spotted, they would appear to be Sparmax compressors.

Has anyone got any experience or comments on Sparmax? 

Milairjunkie wrote:

In an ideal world, I would get an Iwata Power Jet - but the prices in the UK are pretty ridic at about £325 ($555 USD) upwards, I cant really justify that & dont see that it is worth that sort of money. I have looked around for some time, & the only thing that seems of reasonable quality & price are the Revell Standard Class (£100) & Master Class (£160) compressors; My other concern is noise, the smaller one is rated at 55dB, the larger at 50dB. In a quiet house at night, in laymans terms, how loud is this? Again in laymans terms, how noticible would the 5dB difference between the two compressors be?

At 160 British Pounds, what are you waiting for!  I can't find a similar deal at the US and I usually expect compressor hardware price to be much cheaper due to the import and VAT taxes etc. in GB. This compressor has better spec than the Iwata Power Jet Pro at half the price.

http://www.wonderlandmodels.com/Master-Class-Compressor-productx365444.html

A while back, someone post at this forum that he was very happy with this compressor. Ok, I found the post by shroomy:

/forums/693485/ShowPost.aspx

I have a one gallon tank Sparmax 5000 and I love it!  Very reduced noise compared to the crap Paasche one previous.  Solid build and easy to use.  I got mine from Bear Air if that matters.

BW

metroman wrote:

I have a one gallon tank Sparmax 5000 and I love it!  Very reduced noise compared to the crap Paasche one previous.  Solid build and easy to use.  I got mine from Bear Air if that matters.

Unfortunately, BearAir no longer carries the Sparmax brand compressor. It is quite a bit more expensive elsewhere.

I have the "crap Paasche" DA400 made by Sparmax. But I don't know what "crap" means unless you gave your model number. The Paasche DA-400 is a nice quiet, stable compressor with plenty of power to spare. You can find it in the compressor roundup in the July issue of FSM.

Get the Sparmax TC-5000 if it is in your budget range. It is a best value in its class when BearAir sold it for around $260.

Bish wrote:

I was doing a search for Revell compressors as i am thinking of getting the Revell master class. I was going to get it from Hannants at £195. Then i saw your post and was woundering where you had seen it for 160.

Check my 10/10 and 10/11 posts. The company in UK is Wonderland Models. Click on the links above. They are still there.

http://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/revell-master-class-compressor/

Bish, as keilau has said the Revell Masterclass compressor is available from Wonderland Models in Edinburgh @ £160. I had one mail ordered a couple of weeks ago & am more than happy with it.

As far as I can see it is identical to the Sparmax TC5000 & even has a couple of parts on it clearly branded sparmax. I have seen this compressor sold quite often in the £270>£290 bracket, so I would say this is a pretty good deal.

Also for anyone in the UK interested in a good deal on a high end airbrush, try; www.graphicsdirect.co.uk who have pretty good pricing on the Harder & Steenbeck Infinity & Evolution airbrushes.