The Way To Choose An Air Compressor For The Woodworking Shop

I began out my woodworking career having a quarter-sheet electric sander, rapidly graduated to a random orbit electric disc sander and lastly realized that I could substantially shorten sanding time with an air palm sander. I settled on a 5" Dynabrade sander and Sears 3HP air compressor. It took me less than an hour to comprehend my mistake: The little compressor I purchased couldn't start to maintain up air demands of your air sander. It would run out of air stress practically quickly and the air sander would slow down to the point of getting useless. I would then have to wait for various minutes for the pressure to create up once again to get a different minute of sanding.

To create matters worse, I had 3 men and women hired as sanders and so I would need to keep 3 machines running at prime speed all day extended. I did some math and found that I'd want a ten horsepower air compressor having a big tank to perform this. I was lucky to discover a employed 1 for not as well significantly cash nevertheless it required 3 phase energy and a lot of it. Far more funds went out for an electrician to wire it up to the building's 208 volt 3-phase energy. The big air compressor was so loud it could be heard all over the developing and down the block but it powered those three sanders from dawn to dusk. The very good news is the fact that it paid for itself in saved sanding time quite immediately.

Air sanders are aggressive and effective. They are light in weight when in comparison to their lesser electric cousins. My sanders took to them instantly and production took off. I was as content as they have been. Quickly there was an additional machine besides the air compressor needed obtaining big amounts of air inside the shop: an Onsrud inverted pin router. It was also good to become able to blow sawdust of benches and machine whilst cleaning upon the shop at the end on the day. The compressor was also utilized to spray finishes around the completed furniture.

Years later, I constructed a smaller woodworking shop in my home which only needed a single air sander running at a time. For that shop, I purchased an air compressor half the size and isolated inside a soundproof space in a single corner with the shop. I ran ¾" galvanized pipe below the shop floor to three regulators at 3 unique convenient locations. The machine I purchased for that shop as a 5 HP Ingersoll Rand model with an 80 gallon tank. In the 80 PSI needed by my Dynabrade sander, the compressor would generate enough air all day extended. I will have to say that that compressor was really effectively constructed. All I had to accomplish was keep an eye on the oil level air pump  in the sight glass. At night, I would turn off the master air valve on the side from the machine, leaving the electricity on, to silence the compressor for the night.

I need to assume that, getting study this far, you have got some interest in working with an air compressor to energy air tools in your shop. Most likely, a 2-stage reciprocating air compressor will fill the desires of a tiny to medium shop. As a rule of thumb, a five HP air compressor will power 1 air sander, a 7.five HP machine will power two as well as a 10 HP machine might be needed for 3 sanders.

The size on the compressor's air tank is definitely an important consideration: The smaller sized the tank, the more typically the compressor will need to have to cycle on and off, This is challenging on each the motor and compressor pump more than time and it utilizes extra electrical energy. I'd not even think about an air compressor utilized to power an air sander with significantly less than a 60 gallon tank and I would really feel considerably more comfortable with an 80 gallon tank.

The type of electrical power needed by an air compressor is yet another consideration. In the event you have three-phase energy available at your location, fine. Three phase motors are likely to use electricity a little extra efficiently than single-phase motors. Huge air compressors will all call for 3-phase energy however the five HP models come either way. If you do not have 3-phase energy offered, you could manufacture it with a rotary or electronic phase converter as I did in my smaller sized shop. Whether you use single or three phase power, you might require 230V AC energy for single-phase motors and 208 or 220V AC for the three-phase range. Be sure you verify the voltage and amperage needs of any air compressor before you purchase it. Electricians could be expensive.

A two-stage compressor pump is actually a have to for a machine of this size. Two-stage machines have two cylinders, one bigger than the other. Air is initial introduced in to the huge cylinder exactly where it can be partially compressed and sent to the smaller cylinder for final compression in to the tank. As air is compressed, heat is developed and so a great machine will normally have a finned intercooler constructed in.