MadaboutKitcars

There was talk in other threads recently about compresors, so when during the weekly food shop and i spotted a poster on the side of LIDL showing that their Monday Madness deal for next week is a 3HP compressor and lods of cheap air tools i thought you lot would be interested!

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=34788

From all the reading i did, i came to the conclusion that 3HP is the min for a 'decent' hobbyist compressor and it's what i ended up with, so this may be worth a look? At the very least the tools should do the occasional use types, such as us!

It looks to be the same compressor as the one Machinemart sell;

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/airmaster-tiger-14-60-air-compressor

Its air delivery (rather than displacement) isn't brilliant, but it's OK. My 3hp compressor is rated quite a bit higher, but it won't start on a 13amp plug without blowing the fuse (Its on an industrial 16amp outlet).

Good deal for the price.

What's the tank size?

50 litres, Im going to see if I can get one this morning..Will give you tech specs if I manage..

I think that is the one I bought. It is okay but noisy when the motor kicks in.

I tell you what, the tools are a great value. But the compressor will not keep up with a D /A sander. You might get away with the grinder and air chisel but you need at least i think 300 litre tank to match the air that a spraygun and d/a sander.

The flow rate is 14.5 l/m which is good though, and just as important as tank capacity.

Bigger tank would be nice, or ear defenders because it never turns off...

Well I was there at 8.00 am in the queue at Lidl's
Picked up the last Compressor of the 6 they had at my local branch, its more than double the capacity of my 1950's belt driven compressor which I managed a half decent spray job on the Herald.
The only downside I can see is no air hose or tools which you would expect when looking at the add, the push fittings are bigger than all mine too, so will need to upgrade all mine..
Still happy enough at that price..

Pardon?

Well done pops!

Cheers Nick

As promised Specs as listed on comp

8 bar Max
160 litres per min delivery at 7 bar.
50 litres capacity

Quite loud at 97 db

Dare I say it German standard TUV compliant so that should keep our friend over the water very happy.

Mike you are right I bought the palm sander and the tank soon empties enough for the comp to start up and chase it, however I can live with that, I'll just wear the ear defenders.
Pops

Sounds like good value 'Pops.

Couple of questions for the experts though: what's the most important factor when buying a compressor for spraying paint - horse power, tank capacity or flow rate?

I've got a 100 litre 2hp tank that flows 8.5cfm (e-bay, brand new, £99 delivered). What problems am I going to face if I use that to do my spraying? It's identical to the one I used to power my grit blaster, and it coped well enough with that.

There's one, lurking in the background of this chassis shot - oh, and it's bright red, not sure if that makes any difference to the performance?



Thanks guys, I'm sure there'll be a variety of answers to keep WCA from going stir crazy...

Does this help?
Fortunately it is easy to size a compressor since they are all rated according to the air delivered (cfm or litres per minute). As a guideline a 2HP compressor will deliver about 7 cfm and a 3HP compressor will delivery around 10.5 cfm FAD.
When choosing a compressor it is important to calculate the amount of air required. A spray gun that requires 7cfm average air consumption will require a compressor of approx 2HP.

Another issue to look out for when selecting a compressor is the application. For intermittent use, for example for spraying a garden fence or kitchen cupboard a small Direct Drive compressor will be more than adequate. A project that requires a more sophisticated spray gun and heavy duty (many hours of use over several days) will require a compressor producing much greater CFM normally a Belt Driven compressor of 3HP or above.

Note: HVLP Spray Guns require a lot of air, always check the air consumption.

Yes, the red ones cause terrible over spray. You had best spray it black at the top and yellow at the bottom leaving just a red stipe in the middle, that will cure it!

A big tank on a small compressor does not help much. You can use a tool for longer before the compressor cuts in, but the compressor will then have to run for longer to refill the tank. That may in fact make the motor more likely to overheat.



That's the displacement, its air delivery is more like 5.2cfm (150l/m).

For spraying the tank size just needs to be big enough to smooth out pulses from the compressor. If it can't deliver enough air it can't deliver enough air!

One of the differences between cheap airtools and quality ones is their air consumption and the consumption ratings on many of the cheap ones are just lies.

So, what is the best combi... Man. for spraying a Sammio?

Nail hit firmly on head there MoriniMan, there's a huge difference between quality tools and the cheap crap typically peddled on ebay. But, I'm building a cheap kit car (Sammio) based on a cheap donor (knackered Triumph Vitesse) using cheap labour (me).

My budget for this project had to be conjured out of thin air (pun intended given the nature of the thread) and, though I'd love to kit out my garage with top quality tools that'll deliver uncompromised performance and last a lifetime, it'd take a substantial cheque from Camelot before I could realise that dream.

I'll only ever build the one car (probably), and financial reality for me means buying the cheapest new tools I can find that'll just about do the job. And if my paint finish doesn't look like a professional sprayer did it there'll be a good reason for that - I'm not a professional sprayer. I just want it to look good enough.

Some questions for anyone on the forum though:

What's going to happen if my compressor struggles to keep up with the demand of the 'gun? I'm guessing the paint will turn from mist into droplets?

As I'm using (cheap) cellulose paint http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-PAINT-CELLULOSE-RE-SPRAY-KIT-SILVER-METALLIC-20lt-/180563696678?pt=UK_Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item2a0a6f5c26 , if I do get droplets and/or runs on the surface, will I be able to sand them flat without ruining the finish?

If so, can I use my B&D mouse or does it need to be sanded by hand or some other expensive tool? (same question for general flatting).

Phew, sorry I've got so many questions about spraying, but I'm a total novice and at least it'll give WCA something to read. That'll be my excuse for typing long-winded posts until he's better, anyway.

I think everyone on the forum will now join me in wishing WCA an extra speedy recovery.

Towed,

I tackled my wifes Herald with the 1950's 1.5hp 20 litre sprayer that never kept up with my £20 Clark's spray gun and was pretty pleased with the result, the finish that was achieved was down to going over the entire car with wet and dry flatting back the paint then the final polish with a proper orbital polisher, it brought the surface up like glass, its not perfect as there are eggshell pimples visible however for an outlay of £50 on the equipment and £100 for the paint I was more than happy, dare say with better equipment I wouldn't need the hours following up , but then again the time was free.



I wont get too hung up on make and cost of equipment, if it delivers the results but takes a little longer so be it, like you say budget build, built to my budget..

You can successfully paint with a tiny compressor.

You adjust the gun to use whatever air the compressor is capable of supplying.

More air = more paint = faster job

Less air = less paint = slower job

Thanks for the reassurance guys, and Pops, that finish looks pretty good to me.

For those of you who don't manage to get hold of one of these ones from Lidl, the compressor i ended up with is not 'technically' as good as that one now that i actually look under all of the muck in the garage!, although it's performance stats aren't far off. mine is:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warrior-50L-Twin-Outlet-Air-Compressor-240v-Twin-Outlet-Free-Air-Gun-Kit-/180980242597?

2hp
8 bar
206l/min
50L tank

and with my additional external pressure regulator/water trap, it's done me fine painting mine and as a general use air supply, although i would agree that i've probably not got enough puff for an air powered orbital sander and so while i've not got enough space for a bigger tank, the 3hp would make up a bit!

As others have said, it's a case of get what you can afford and then make the most of it!