Posted by Lars Olbimmerguy on February 26, 2003 at 19:27:38 from 66.62.152.12
In Reply to: slightly OT, compressor for the garage, opinions? posted by Adam Wilson on February 26, 2003 at 16:46:31:
get the urge at some point to try a little body and paint work.... That's when the greedy tools come in. You need enough CFM to run your air tools without draining the tank and causing the compressor to run all the time to catch up, and slowly lose ground in the process. When that happens, you have to shut down the tool and let the tank fill up again. Not fun when you are doing body work.
I know the other fellows have mentioned impact wrenches and DA (orbital) sanders. If you have covered that, then a paint gun is no problem. But the greediest tool I ever used was a double piston 14" file board for blocking flat panels. (maybe that's what another post meant by DA sander). A file board takes a lot of CFM to run. A file board generally needs 7-8CFM at 65-70 Pounds per square inch.
As said before, figure out the requirement of the biggest tool you see yourself using.
I'd go for 5HP, dual stage, Upright 80 gallon tank, and that should be well under $500 dollars at Home Depot or similar. It will fit nicely in a corner. If noise is an issue, run the intake pipe out through the wall and put a filter on it outside the garage. The intake is the noisiest part of the whole unit. If it's still too noisy, put an insulated cover around it, but make sure it's ventilated to the outside.