School Me-- Air Compressor

[RTC]

Need a air compressor for the house, has to be portable, inflate form balls to car tires and other light duties. Advice on what to buy?

[Brooks]

For those task I think a pancake compressor is your best bet. Small and pretty inexpensive.

[60 Deluxe]

I had a pancake. Couldn't keep up with the repairs. Now I have a 80 gallon verticle tank, 125' of hose, and a portable air tank. Couldn't get by without it living in the country.
Mine is a Porter Cable and is probably fifteen years old now.

[BrandonH]

I have a pancake from Home Depot and it has worked flawlessly for 5 years now. I can run my impact on it for brief periods, airs up anything I need, and has put 1000's of nails through the nail gun.

[RTC]

Thanks, looking at the 150PSI, 6 Gal pancake from Home Depot.

[Smokeater]

Main thing is the CFM of the pump. I've got a cheapo from Harbor Freight and it has lasted a long time but it's got a very low CFM pump so it takes forever to recover. For the stuff you listed you don't need a huge tank to lug around as long as you have a 3-5cfm pump. I just got one of the craftsman hot dog oil cooled on a good sale and it has been very good. Constant run tools need big everything tho.

[Draco]

You may consider a CO2 tank and regulator. I started using one over 30 years ago and now every friend I have uses one. It costs about $8 to have a 20# one filled and it would fill hundreds of truck tires. It will run any air tools, spray rig or fill lots of tires. Regulators are about $30 and I've bought bottles for as low as $5 at flea markets. I keep one in every truck I own.

[35remington]

School Me-- Air Compressor

You may consider a CO2 tank and regulator. I started using one over 30 years ago and now every friend I have uses one. It costs about $8 to have a 20# one filled and it would fill hundreds of truck tires. It will run any air tools, spray rig or fill lots of tires. Regulators are about $30 and I've bought bottles for as low as $5 at flea markets. I keep one in every truck I own.

Can you say more about this? I need something for cleaning dust out of wood work items in my shop but don't have air tools and don't want a huge investment. Your idea might be perfect for me.

[aggie2000tx]

Thanks, looking at the 150PSI, 6 Gal pancake from Home Depot.

You should be good to go for your needs with that compressor. I have a Porter Cable myself that is a great little compressor.

[eaglegolfj]

I have one of these and it works great for small stuff and still has volume for large framing projects.