Time has come that I want an air compressor. Don't know what I want. Was hoping ya'll could help out. Want to be able to do sand blasting, run power tools, well lets leave it as expandible. As I want a plasma cutter eventually. Want a descent duty cycle. Was thinking 220 volt but perhaps 110 would keep up? I like to purchase these kinda things once. Don't have a shop yet, as I'm military but its coming one day.

Please let me know ya'lls experience.

Scott

 

Depends on what you want, which it sounds like you have a good idea with what you want. You are going to need a big compressor for sandblasting. At least a 60 gallon. I just bought a 20 gallon ingersol rand. A little pricey but the best compressor in the market imo.

 

i have an 80 gal,5hp, 220v devilbiss and it handles anything I can throw at it. Including long runs with the die grinder, sandblasting, spraying paint. Anything. It's been an awesome compressor so far.

 

I run a 26 gal ingersol rand for impacts, spray guns, grinders and sanding. For the small stuff I do it works great. It was around $320 with a 2yr service plan from tractor supply, best price I could find.

 

Some air compressor and tank sizing information below:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...uchAirforTools

I've had a 20 gallon, 4 HP C/H compressor for about 20 years now. I rewired it to run on 220V (you'll want 220 volts for much over 2 HP). It'll run most anything, but for sand blasting, I would go for a 2-stage compressor. They'll move large volumes of high pressure air and are much quieter than a single stage unit.

 

It all comes down to CFM big tanks are nice but in the end if your compressor can`t keep up . you still need to stop and wait for it to catch up.

It is a real pain to have the overloads on the motor trip so often they break.

I would go with 2 stage if you want to buy once and be done mine puts out 23 CFM at 90 PSI . handles all my needs with sand blasting.

Do your research look what brand is supported in the area you plan to live in .

Thank you for your service to the country.