Compressor advice for a total noob

[scooby]

I’ve only used battery and gas nailers on site but I want to get a small compressor and a 18g Brad nailer ( maybe a 23g in the future) for My home workshop.

ive never owned a compressor before so Id appreciate as much advice as possible please.

I’ve done a bit of searching here and got useful information from Peter Millard on YouTube. I’m planning on getting a 9 litre Hyundai compressor and a nailer like this Professional Air Brad Nailer F50 i won’t be spraying so 9 litre should be fine.
From searches, I guess I’d be be best off with euro couplers but I’m unsure which hose diameter I need, etc,

any and all advice will be appreciated

 

[clogs]

I have a little oilless comp bought from Aldi 20 years ago;;;;;
still fires my nailer ok.......also have one of lidil's brad nailers...good enough for my work.....
and at that price cheap enough to bin it if it goes wrong......
My Senco was nothing but trouble...£200 down the drain....
I call my comp a little screamer......sooooo noisy.......
If ur not building houses get a super quiet comp........ur ears will thank u......

 

[Sideways]

If you're just firing a small / brad nailer it doesn't take much air. Portability and ease of use are most important. I think you need about 100psi which is why I bought a little 2nd hand jun-air lab compressor, the airbrush compressors would make enough airflow but keep the tank between 40 and 60psi which isn't enough.
Look for ultra flex braided hose, 6mm / quarter inch ID.
There's no need for euro connectors. The airflow isn't high enough to need them.

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

I am also new to air compressors, and after advice on this forum went for the same hyundai as you are looking at, but 24L. It is super quiet and perfect for my needs. I also bought the silverline 18g nailer.
The only advice I would add is almost as soon as I set it up in my workshop I realised that the long hose I had bought was messy, so I bought a retractable air hose reel. Worth the extra to me.

 

[scooby]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated

 

[Fergie 307]

Not really applicable here as a small nailer will run from just about anything. For more air hungry stuff like spraying kit very important to look at the Free Air Delivery or FAD numbers. Many compressors just show a displacement figure, often much higher. So one with a displacement of 14cfm might only have a FAD of 9 or 10 cfm, big difference. The FAD figure is a much more accurate indication of what it will actually deliver.

 

[fezman]

Have a read of this for the hyundai model above the 9l one.
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/thread...ompressor-and-silverline-50mm-nailgun.131753/

 

[deema]

I’d just say don’t skimp on anything, don’t buy no brand Chinese fittings. A lady who worked for me was helping her son a couple of years back (well thinking about it eight actually) with his compressor when a fitting let go. Let’s just say she now has only one working eye.

 

[bourbon]

Pop into Machine Mart. look at the compressors there. Then wait for the 'price crash' deals. They only sell PLC fittings, you only need normal flow ones on a nail gun as opposed to the high flow ones

 

[Jameshow]

Look at SGS they are good on price and customer service ime...

 

[Fergie 307]

You will often find good deals at motor factors, like bennetts, or your local equivalent. And if they sell you something they will probably back it up, unlike Machine Mart.

 

[BrianatBisley]

I’ve only used battery and gas nailers on site but I want to get a small compressor and a 18g Brad nailer ( maybe a 23g in the future) for My home workshop.

ive never owned a compressor before so Id appreciate as much advice as possible please.

I’ve done a bit of searching here and got useful information from Peter Millard on YouTube. I’m planning on getting a 9 litre Hyundai compressor and a nailer like this Professional Air Brad Nailer F50 i won’t be spraying so 9 litre should be fine.
From searches, I guess I’d be be best off with euro couplers but I’m unsure which hose diameter I need, etc,

any and all advice will be appreciated

I’ve only used battery and gas nailers on site but I want to get a small compressor and a 18g Brad nailer ( maybe a 23g in the future) for My home workshop.

ive never owned a compressor before so Id appreciate as much advice as possible please.

I’ve done a bit of searching here and got useful information from Peter Millard on YouTube. I’m planning on getting a 9 litre Hyundai compressor and a nailer like this Professional Air Brad Nailer F50 i won’t be spraying so 9 litre should be fine.
From searches, I guess I’d be be best off with euro couplers but I’m unsure which hose diameter I need, etc,

any and all advice will be appreciated

I am on compressor #4. My requirements have changed over the years. I just wanted to be able to run a touch up spray gun so I could stop the rust on my e-type. A simple tankless compressor worked. I then wanted to upgrade to run some air tools. I needed some CFM. I upgraded again. I had bigger projects to work on and I had to spend a lot of time waiting for the compressor to catch up. I upgraded again. I moved to the UK five years ago from Canada and wanted a large compressor that could sand blast as well as run my air tools. I ended up with a 4HP SIP, which is complete overkill for most of the work I do but has enough capacity to do some very light blasting. Mine is on wheels so I can move it to change the oil and sweep up under it. I only move it annually.

In Canada, all residential construction is timber framed. The framers use a pancake style Makita or Dewalt because they need to supply air to a crew of 4-6 men running air nailers. They need a very quiet compressor as they cannot afford noise complaints from the neighbours as it would cause a job site stoppage. They also need portability. They usually have to run this on a jobsite off of a power pole off of a long extension so they can't draw much power.

I am getting on very well with my 4hp SIP, but have struggled with air fittings. I brought a bunch from Canada. I have a wood shop and a metal shop. The automotive tools seem to use a North American 'Automotive' standard which would be common at most shops. The woodworking tools use a different 'standard'. I rush ordered some fittings on the internet when I needed to use in a hurry. It turned out that the European 'standard' universal is not quite universal and there are variations. As another commenter mentioned, you really need to go to a large re-seller and get some advice before you commit to connectors. I highly recommend selecting these first. I recently purchased a Chinese impact wrench and it was supplied with a mystery fitting that didn't seem to match anything I had.

My brother in in the antiques business and he wants to get into soda blasting to strip furniture. He rents a commercial space with 3 phase power. He has a 'helper' so he needs to run 2 soda blasting units concurrently. He needs at least 90CFM to do the occasional sandblasting job on iron. I recommended a 3 or 5 HP 3 phase unit to him. He wanted a stationary machine, but I told him that he should get one on wheels to he can do an easy oil change and sweep up underneath the unit.

In my wood workshop my most used air tool is a 23 gauge pin nailer. They are quite rare here in the UK and pins can be hard to get. I also have a 15 gauge brad nailer that I use for trim. I have a consumer grade Paslode air nailer that I use to build sheds and things like that. The 23 and 15 gauge use almost no air at all and could run on anything. I have a palm nailer that does not use too much air but likes a lot of pressure. The bigger Paslode framing nailer goes through quite a bit of air and I recommend one of the small pancake units at a minimum. When my house was being rennovated here in the UK the chippies all had trim nailers that ran off of gas cylinders. That would be unusual in North America because of cost.

Take a serious look at your current and short term requirements. Are you building houses or are you a hobbiest? Do you need portability? What power do you have? Are you one man? Are you going to 'blast'? Are you going to run automotive air tools? Can you work around some dead time while the compressor catches up or are you up a ladder and need to keep going?

The first thing I do when I walk into the shop is turn on the lights and then start the compressor. I do a lot of sanding and find that an air nozzle gets the fine dust off quickly and easily.

Take your time and wait for something really good to go on sale before you buy. I am starting to think that nobody would every pay full retail for a compressor.

 

[the great waldo]

I’ve only used battery and gas nailers on site but I want to get a small compressor and a 18g Brad nailer ( maybe a 23g in the future) for My home workshop.

ive never owned a compressor before so Id appreciate as much advice as possible please.

I’ve done a bit of searching here and got useful information from Peter Millard on YouTube. I’m planning on getting a 9 litre Hyundai compressor and a nailer like this Professional Air Brad Nailer F50 i won’t be spraying so 9 litre should be fine.
From searches, I guess I’d be be best off with euro couplers but I’m unsure which hose diameter I need, etc,

any and all advice will be appreciated

I recently got a hyundia silent with a 50 litre tank. Not too expensive and much quieter tan may old piston compressor which soundls like animal from the muppets. Don't expect the Hyundai to be silent but it is very quiet compared to the old one.
Cheers
Andrew

 

[ian33a]

I'm on my second compressor. The first one died after 10 years because I forgot to check the oil level. Had I done so I suspect it would have out lived me.

This is what I have now : ABAC L30P Monte Carlo (D4) Direct Drive 3 HP 50 Litre Air Compressor (10 CFM)

It's a noisy beast but I don't have close neighbours and I do have ear defenders. It's the bigger brother of the one that I killed.

 

[bourbon]

You will often find good deals at motor factors, like bennetts, or your local equivalent. And if they sell you something they will probably back it up, unlike Machine Mart.

Sorry, but Machine Mart DO back up what they sell.

 

[sams93]

I was in same position as you about 12 months ago, went for the draper small compressor and use it with the axi 23 gauge nailer, axi 18 gauge nail/stapler combo. I never realised that I would use it so much - really handy and to have an air blower attachment etc is so helpful around the workshop.

The draper compresser is rather noisy but for the amount I use it it's fine. The 23 gauge nailer is one of the best thing's i've collected over the years, so handy for trim pieces and tacking on edging etc, the nails are basically invisible to the untrained eye.

 

[Will Dutson]

I'm pleased with the 50L Hyundai 'super silent'; far from silent, but so much quieter than others I've used, which makes it far more tolerable when it kicks in. Makita 18G nailer is a pleasure to use, and has been faultless.

 

[scooby]

Thank you for all the replies. I really appreciate the advice.

 

[Ed Weber]

Figure out what you want to drive with it before anything else.
Different tools require different amounts of air flow, CFM.
There are plenty of charts online to get an average usage for most tools.

 

[scooby]

Compressor and 18 gauge nailer turned up today, unexpectedly. ive got a SGS nailer and the Hyundai 8 litre compressor, both come fitted with euro fittings and I already had a hose with euro fittings on so perfect for a noob.
I haven’t tried it yet as I’m still at work but I’ve just had a look at the instructions online and it appears (unless I’m mistaken) the 8 litre doesn’t have an output regulator. Lack of knowledge/reseach there.


Do I need to install a regulator? I’ll be using the nailer, air blower, tyre inflator (for bicycle) and maybe an airbrush. ive only got the nailer at the moment and the compressor doesn’t exceed the nailers max psi.
If i do need to install one could I get some advice on how/best way to do so.
thanks