I’m in the market for a new air compressor and am loosing my mind with all the options. I will for the most of my work be using a Hitachi NV 75AG coil nailer, but hope to get my wife on a framing nailer with me soon. Aside from framing it will also be used in my wood shop for brad and finish nailing.
I would like a portable unit that is built to last. I’ve looked at just about everything out there, but they all seam just about the same as far as their specs go. So what are some of my best options? I would like to stay under $400.
Thanks, John Stephenson.
Replies
Just about any of them from Lowes, Sears or Home Depot will do everything you want as far as driving any and all airnailers. You can get what you want well below $400. I forgot to mention Amazon. Airnailers don't take much air, and there are several portable units design just for contractors and their nailguns.
If nailing is your primary need, I picked up a special from Home Depot that has 3 Porter cable nail guns (finish,brad,stapler)and a 135psi compressor for under $300. I have only used it slightly but I bought it from recommendations from other forum members. Seemed a good place to start.
"built to last" ........... Rol-Air and Thomas are two brands that come to mind- they're pretty well regarded among contractors. You might try posting over at Breaktime to get more feedback on these two brands. I've got the Thomas T-200ST Renegade and have been very pleased with it. Good output (4.6 cfm @ 100psi), quieter than most (75dB), starts well in the cold, 12 second recovery time and runs fine on a 15 amp circuit. It costs a little more than some of the others (Amazon has it for $339.94 w/ free shipping) but well worth it imho. It is a wee bit on the heavy side (66 lbs). If budgets are meant to be broken, nicer still is the T-2820ST (runs about $480 or so). Same weight but more output (5 cfm @ 100psi), quicker recovery time (7 seconds) and quieter than the T-200ST. http://www.thomasairpac.com/products/airpac/renegade_electric/T-200ST/t-200st_specifications.jsp
One thought, if you think you will also want to use the compressor for finishing work, then you will want to pay attention to the compressor's CFM output since the minimum for HVLP conversion guns are more than supporting one or two nail guns.
First off, forget about anything electrical from Sear's (sorry Kesac). Generally they are someone else's C-line with Sears stuck on the side of it. And the Craftman waurrantee only applies to the mechanic's wrenches, sockets, etc., not everything it is plastered on. Rol-air makes a superior compressor with about a 5.9 CFM output at 90 that will easily handle 2 framers and runs on 15 amps. Made by Associated Engineering, an American company.
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