Air Compressor Score

[Safety Guy]

Well I finally bought me the air compressor I've had my eye on for about a year.

It's the Sears Craftsman 33 gallon vertical one on wheels.

Normally around $300. It was on sale for $269 with a $99 accessory kit (ratchet, hammer and wrench, etc.) included "free."

I bought it before 11am yesterday making it an additional 10 percent off.

Only thing is the sales guy said another little kit with hose and connectors, etc. was included with the compressor (that is usually included with their others). It wasn't.

Now I need some accessories.

Any ideas about accessories? I think I'd like quick disconnects, about 15 feet of hose, and a tire chuck and air blower gadget (to clean out my fuel rail).

I hope the air ratchet will work on strut spring compressors, since that work is quite tedious. I've done it with a regular hand ratchet and I know I hate doing it!

With my cheap Coleman 2 gallon portable compressor for little jobs, I think I'm set for lots of air.

Karl

[mattswabb]

Go to harbor freight. http://www.harborfreight.com/ They have a retail store in Columbus.

Impact gun, air cut off. I bought a $4 air chisel from them, it has come in handy many times.

[Safety Guy]

Matt, I'll be visiting the store a few miles down the road from me soon.

Karl

[Guest]

Way to go Karl. I picked up a Sears 33gal 6hp almost brand new for 100.00 this year. It's the parallel version of the same one you got I think. The guy had just bought it before he divorced and had to move into an apartment..

(He had a nice HD Aniversary Police Bike for sale too, but I didn't have the bucks for that)

Anyways, I bought a new water trap and an extra 50' of hose.. all the fittings.. and have been buying airtools from Harbor Freight since June..

Die grinders and cut off wheels are fairly inexpensive..

Cheers..

[Safety Guy]

What kind of water trap should I get? I'll need fittings, too. The quick release kind so I can more easily go from tire filling to blowing air to a tool.

Die grinders and cutoff wheels--sounds nice!

Would a handheld cutoff wheel work well to cut springs, or should I use a cutoff wheel in a table saw for better stability?

Karl

[Guest]

I bought all automotive type quick connectors from HF and picked up a trap at my local PPG dealer, but they have them there too. I had to do some plumbing for mine because it's a parallel model and the trap had to hang over the edge of the tank... and we cut off axels with a cut off wheel so springs shouldn't be a problem as long as they are immobile.

[Safety Guy]

Thanks DJ.

Karl

[Rumnhammer]

compressor stuff

a few things you might want to get are, plenty of fittings, you can get them at HF or in a pinch you can also get them at Home Depot, get quite few as you will want to add a male connector to every air tool you get, they are cheap and makes tool change fast. You can also get one of those starter kits that has a blower, several fittings, usually a tire inflator, and a 50' coil hose. For hoses get a good quality RUBBER hose HF carries a Goodyear rubber hose for like $20 DO NOT get one of those cheap poly hoses from Home Depot because at any temperature below like 40degrees it gets stiff and is impossible to use in cold temperatures, OK in the summer, or if you want to run a line mounted around the garage but for a normal use hose they suck.
You can get a decent water separator filter at HF and the primary one I have coming off mine is a cheapo from home depot, they are important to keep water out of the line and tools. You will also want to get some air tool oil to drip into the intake fittings on your tools, do it regularly to prevent your tools from rusting in the little turbines that run them.
As far as tools go, most of the cheaper ones do a good enough job, if you spend any real cash on any of them get the best quality impact gun you can afford. I started out with the cheapo one that comes with the starter kit and it sucked, with only 250lbs of torque it really didn't have enough balls to get the job done properly I replaced it with a ingersol rand with 650 lbs of reverse torque and that sucker really has balls, nothing has stopped it. The rest of the cheapo air tools seem to work fine though. the other really useful air tool I use a lot is the vibro saw, this little beauty really saves the day all the time, like a miniature air driven saws-all it works great for cutting almost anything I ask it to. It really works good for trimming up plastic at like 10,000 strokes per minute it is like a hacksaw on steroids.
Hope this list helps, and don't for get to drain the tank every day to prevent rust.
Chris Rummel

[Silv3rBull3t]

I second that, a VERY GOOD impact gun is vital!! Rusted bolts, Stubborn bolts that can mean the difference between you getting a job done or not... Alot less headaches.. -Kyle