Thread: Workshop Air Compressor ?

You will be limited to about 200lpm Free air flow with a 10 amp electric unit. I've got a Supercheap direct drive one that hasnt died yet that will allegedly deliver that much but it is a bit small for my needs.
Second hand units seem to start at about $600 and are expensive for what they are , I was at a clearing sale a while ago where a nice Com-Pac unit went for about $400.00 but it had modifications welded to the tank

Aldi apparently occasionally have a 15 amp belt drive unit but i've never seen one in the flesh ( and 've been looking)

Regards,
Tote

200lpm is only about 7cfm. Not much use for much.

Oh and I did mean at least 12cfm not 16, though 16 would be MUCH better.

Is it possible (without damaging it) to run a 15A unit on 10A circuit? I haven't got a 15A outlet (rental house) but will get one run if/when I buy a house in future.

Advantages / disadvantages of direct vs belt drive?

You probably won't damage the unit if you could plug it into a 10amp socket, the 15amp has a larger earth so it doesn't fit into 10amp one.

Theoretically you could blow you fuse (depending on the load on the circuit) as 15amp sockets normally have their own circuit (at least they do when I have electricians do them for me)


Richard

If you're limited to 10A and only doing intermittent blasting/painting, how about a smaller/cheap compressor and an additional larger (separate) receiver to give you additional air storage for blasting/painting.
Later when you've got a decent power supply you could flog the cheapie off and probably not lose much, then buy a decent one.

Steve

You'll have to go petrol. I have an old Clisby 17CFM compressor I bought new many years ago. It pulls about 14amps from memory. It *just barely* runs the sand blaster I made. It's much better with the 2nd 8CFM compressor running as well.

D/A sanders will run slowly, painting is fine ... it runs any spray gun easily. By wanting to sand blast though your going to be absolutely hammering the guts out of it and waiting for it to re-pressurise ( I made a PA blaster which works brilliantly).

Maybe two 12CFM compressors plugged into seperate circuits in your house could be the trick

seeya
Shane L.

Sounds like you need to run two smaller compressors in parallel, but even so they're not that cheap.
2 direct drive 40l Bunnings compressors should get you about 240l/min of air, fine for spraying but a little small for blasting.

My mate ran an aldi one with a better brand one, not spectacular in their air delivery and quite a bit louder than a better quality compressor.

Do you really need to sand blast or can you use a grinder to clean stuff up? I find I don't use air tools at all, it's easier to run an extension cord and power everything than run a compressor and have everything air driven.

Originally Posted by VladTepes

Is it possible (without damaging it) to run a 15A unit on 10A circuit? I haven't got a 15A outlet

Being an Electrician I can't condone that sort of thing, but maybe my 17CFM that draws 13 amps may just be plugged into a 10 amp outlet...

I don't use it all the time - just a bit on the weekends, and the only time I have a drama is if someone turns the kettle on while it is running as it is on the same circuit.....

Everyone in the house now knows not to do that if they can hear it running...

A mate tells me he bought an Aldi one last year and uses it for just the sorts of things I'll usually be doing when working on the bike. He's quite happy with it especially atthe price and with the Aldi warranty.

He reckons they will likely come on sale early-Mid September again. (That's when he got his last year)

SO assuming I can find a way to get a 15A one to plug into a 10A circuit please help me here sparkies- how would one do that in THEORY (not, of course, that one would LOL )