headpeace Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Hey all, Merry Christmas! All right my Beautiful wife bought me a 12 gallon air compressor for Christmas. As I have never used air tools before, I need suggestions for what tools to buy for it. What are good all around multi use tools I should be looking for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edicer2 Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 air impact gun, air sander, tire pump, air nailer just a few i would use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismojunky Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 impact gun, air wrachet, die grinder, sander, drill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Yep, that sums it up. Head down to Harbor Freight for more ideas... Oh, invest in an auto oiler/regulator and your air tools will last longer. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Air saws-all as well. They come in handy for cutting in the small and hard to reach places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 If you're ever gonna fab stuff a 1/4" chuck DotCo's are nearly indepsnible @ my work. you can put a sanding arbor on them for sandwheels, scotchbritewheels and polising discs. or use them with rotary files or any other 1/4" accesory that can tolerate high speeds. We use them for cutting, cleaing, polisihing, hand routing and more. A good Air drill is ruthless and relible if you want to drill heavy stuff. Impact wrenches are very good to have but remember to only use impact in the off direction. and My other personal favorite for inflating,deflating and checking all in one; http://www.amazon.com/Pistol-Grip-Air-Inflator-Easy-Read-Gauge/dp/B000LMKB42/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1UQAF8LMU5GR6&colid=1M98SLUJDGLMJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 Lowe's had a good deal on a set of air tools on Black Friday, $49 for an impact, ratchet, hammer, blow tip/ inflator, and impact socket set. I think they sell it for $99 regularly. I almost bought a set myself, but the only tool I didn't have in the set was the ratchet, and they are about $35 alone, so with money tight I passed on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I wouldn't bother using air drills, saws, sanders or anything else that you already have or can buy a cheap plugin version instead. Sanders and drills use lots of air and it will be hard on the motor if you are constantly filling the tank. Brad nailers, framing nailers, impact gun, die grinder and ratchets are nice. A few different sized wands make dusting, cleaning and drying things off quick. If you do a lot of sheet metal work, a set of nibblers work great. Get a tire filler too, they work awesome! Air powered grease guns work really well too. Just be careful with them while using a needle fitting because they are very high pressure. Paint sprayers are very helpful as well. You can always rent air tools too. That way if you don't like/need it, you don't pay full price. Don't forget to drain your tank after each use. There should be a small bleeder screw at the lowest point of the tank when it is level. You will be surprised how much water accumulates in the bottom, especially if you live in a humid climate. Rusty tanks are dangerous and avoidable. and whatever you're doing, wear some sort of eye protection when using anything air powered. Things tend to happen at a much higher velocity than normal. And don't use impact guns to tighten your wheel lug nuts. as a matter of fact, don't use impact guns to tighten anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 What is not fun is wearing safety glasses and having them blown off because you forget to change the air exhaust direction on the nail gun.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 12 gallon, you won't be able to use any rotary tools like an air ratchet,die grinder etc. too small, rotary tools use a ton of air. I have a 20 gallon and i have a hard time using the rotary's. but an impact nailer..ect. would be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headpeace Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 so I won't be able to use an impact wrench or air ratchet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 yeah, you can use them both, but not for very long before you need to recharge the tank. Like 87path says, any sort of spinning/rotary tool uses lots of air What kind of tank/compressor did you get? You need to consider the CFM your compressor can flow, and then look at what CFM at a specific pressure the tool requires to operate. The size of the tank isn't as important as the CFM value the compressor produces. Brad nailers operate at next to nothing, while sanders are one of the most air-hungry tools out there which is why it makes more sense to use a plugin sander instead. They are more efficient than the air-powered versions when hooked to a small compressor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headpeace Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 I got a craftsman, SCFM @ 90 PSI is 2.4, hows that sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I have an old craftsman 2.5 or 3 hp with a 12 gallon tank. Rated at 5+cfm and it can't handle the high consumption tools. 2.4 cfm @90psi is pretty low, die grinders and sanders and such run in the range of 8-12cfm and higher. One thing you can do for small jobs is buy another tank (6-12 are common) and link it to the one on the compressor, it'll help but you have to stop and let the motor catch up and rest occasionally. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headpeace Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 so what about rachets and impact wrenches? Should I try to take this thing back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 impacts will be fine. its only the rotary tools you will have issues with air ratchet won't be too bad, but pneumatic die grinders will run for about 5 min and your tank will be empty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift220 Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 90% of the time I use my air compressor with an impact gun. Other times I use a paint gun, powder coating gun and a 3/8" right angle drill. Your compressor will be fine with all these tools. I never use my air ratchet as it's to noisy and inconvenient when small bolts can be taken out by hand almost as quick. As for any rotary tools, I find electric ones much more convenient as others have said, it sucks waiting for the compressor to catch up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 just go get another beer while its catching up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dowser Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 And one of my most used air tools is a 1/4" ratchet. The smallest one you can find. They only put out about 15-20ft pounds and are so compact you can get to a lot of areas. Since the ft/lb rating is so low its great for taking off trim screws/bolts without worrying about breaking them off or stripping them while putting them back on. And as said, either buy a inline oiler for your tools, or oil them before and after you use them if your not going to be using them often. Air Impacts are a life saver. A 3/8 or 1/2 are both very handy and remember they are primarily used to taking things OFF.... not to be used to put on. Although if you turn the Air setting of your impact down to its lowest setting and are fairly careful you wont have to deal with stripping and breaking off fasteners. Regardless what you do, make sue when your done to check everything is tight enough. And although everything has a torque spec, in reality, use your common sense on what your working on and make sure things are torqued appropriately and don't rely on just zipping it at full power with the Impact for 3 seconds and call it good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I have to point out that I bought a Harbor Freight electric 1/2" drive impact gun that works great for anything I need it for. I don't know how long it will last, but at $40 I'm not worried. The only reason that I bought an air impact is because the electric was too long to get on the crank shaft bolt on the pathy... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Nice gift! Thoughtful. As others have pointed out, 2.4 cfm @ 90 psi with a 12 gallon tank will have the motor running regularly on most (but not all) auto-related tools. I tried an air impact and air ratchet with the 10-gallon compressor they sell at Home Depot. The motor was running all the time. It also got annoying because the tools would run out of air at precisely the wrong moments. If possible, I'd swap it for something with a larger tank AND motor. Craftsman makes a nice 1.5 hp, 30-gallon model that goes on sale from time to time. If you don't mind used, you can usually find 'em cheap. If you have a 240v connection in your garage, you could get a used commercial compressor. Wouldn't have as much life as a new one, but would have a big 60+ gallon tank and, if you're lucky, a 3 or 5 hp engine. Finally, the gas-fired compressors have wicked high output. Small tanks though. If swapping it isn't an option, I'd suggest either the mini-impact or a ratchet. I have a $30 Lowes/Kobalt air ratchet that puts out 45 ft/lb and gets all the medium-duty work done just fine. Really handy for tight spaces, specially in the pathy. If I was getting air tools and ignored compressor size, I'd get Tire inflator (yeah, I know, but just saying...) 3/8" Ratchet 1/2" butterfly impact (really useful for tight spots) Air hammer 1/2" impact Drill Sander Good luck! Air tools rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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