Air compressors for fitting tyres - bits to go with it

For just the compressor, it's possible to get one 2nd hand starting from £40...lowest I've seen in the last few days was £36.

That's with a 25 litre tank - the minimum recommended by the infamous Spanner Man of your sig - if I can get a 50 litre I'll get that but I don't want any bigger due to room (plus they get more expensive).

[timwilky]

Next comes the rest of the air goodies.

air hacksaw, chisels, spray guns, impact wrench (Remember you now need to buy some impact sockets), sand blast gun , ratchets etc. You suddenly find you have multiple regulators installed in the garage some with lubricators fitted etc. Two standards of fittings and lines, those that require oil and those that mustn't have oil through them.

At which point you have gone too far and passed from the ranks of the enthusiastic amateur to that of a determined wannabe.


Then you get the real annoying part. You forgot to turn it off and the damm thing fires up at 3.00am wakes the wife who applies the obligatory dig in the ribs to ensure you hear your compressor waking the neighbours. Just in case it didn't, maybe the security light and sound of slamming garage door will as you turn it off. Remembering the last person to use it was the wife whilst she cleaned the filters from her vacuum cleaner.

Originally Posted by timwilky

Next comes the rest of the air goodies.

air hacksaw, chisels, spray guns, impact wrench (Remember you now need to buy some impact sockets), sand blast gun , ratchets etc. You suddenly find you have multiple regulators installed in the garage some with lubricators fitted etc. Two standards of fittings and lines, those that require oil and those that mustn't have oil through them.

At which point you have gone too far and passed from the ranks of the enthusiastic amateur to that of a determined wannabe.


Then you get the real annoying part. You forgot to turn it off and the damm thing fires up at 3.00am wakes the wife who applies the obligatory dig in the ribs to ensure you hear your compressor waking the neighbours. Just in case it didn't, maybe the security light and sound of slamming garage door will as you turn it off. Remembering the last person to use it was the wife whilst she cleaned the filters from her vacuum cleaner.

Sounds like you have learnt the hard way!

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by muffles

For just the compressor, it's possible to get one 2nd hand starting from £40...lowest I've seen in the last few days was £36.

That's with a 25 litre tank - the minimum recommended by the infamous Spanner Man of your sig - if I can get a 50 litre I'll get that but I don't want any bigger due to room (plus they get more expensive).

Yeah mine's only a 25 litre one, but it's annoyingly low in capacity for use with air tools.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Yeah mine's only a 25 litre one, but it's annoyingly low in capacity for use with air tools.

do you mean other tools, or specifically seating the bead on tyres? Any idea of tanks are interchangeable (or if it is cost-effective to change just the tank)? Spose I can always upgrade if I see a cheapy 50 litre...though then I'm going down timwilky's route

Which one did you get in the end?

Originally Posted by andyb

Which one did you get in the end?

Me? Which what? Compressor? If so - not bought yet, bidding on one on Ebay

just so you dont get the wrong thing, it,s actually volume of the compressor that makes it suitable for air tool usage rather than size (volume) of the air receiver, a decent size receiver is always worthwhile and will help lots with tyre fitting etc but for air tool usage its volume of the pump that matters, this is measured in cubic feet per minute or litres per minute, as a rough guide you will be looking at 4 cfm for every 0.75 kw (1 horse power), the bigger the better if you are going to be using many tools/spraying equipment, up to 2.2kw (3 horse power) can be run from your normal single phase (230 volt) supply.

The ones I've seen have been 1.5 or 2hp - is that enough for seating the bead on tyres (it's primary use)?

[yorkie_chris]

Mine's a 1.5hp with 25litre tank and does it fine. You could get away with less power but the bigger the better in both respects.