Going "big time" now..............

Okay fellow CEGers, I am now going the "big time" route. I am going to purchase a set of air tools. While I know I can just pick up one of those sets of air tools for $100 or so, I am not sure what is the smallest (physical size and power-HP and/or PSI) compressor that I should obtain and yet be able to "hammer" out the lug nuts. I use lug nuts as a standard because I think it is one of the hardest to remove with the "hammer" motion. Note that I have previously purchased a useless 12-volt impact hammer for the lug nuts. It is an expensive paper weight now. :laugh: I was thinking of going the 110 volt route but after the 12-volt fiasco, I think I have to go "pneumatic" or brawn. :laugh:

Any advice, suggestions or past experience will be appreciated. TIA.

Edit. p.s., I don't have a garage or lots of space in the utility room. Hence, the smallest applicable and acceptable compressor requirement.

Uh well I actually though of doing this myself, are you going to follow that up with a hoist installed in your garage as well ?

m4gician said:

...., are you going to follow that up with a hoist installed in your garage as well ?

Click to expand...

When did somebody build me a garage? Read my postscript in the OP.

Edit. Or should I say, somebody built me a garage and I did not know about it?

you match the CFM output of the compresser with your tools. the tools have cfm ratings on them. as do the compressers

Tony2005 said:

Okay fellow CEGers, I am now going the "big time" route. I am going to purchase a set of air tools. While I know I can just pick up one of those sets of air tools for $100 or so, I am not sure what is the smallest (physical size and power-HP and/or PSI) compressor that I should obtain and yet be able to "hammer" out the lug nuts. I use lug nuts as a standard because I think it is one of the hardest to remove with the "hammer" motion. Note that I have previously purchased a useless 12-volt impact hammer for the lug nuts. It is an expensive paper weight now. :laugh: I was thinking of going the 110 volt route but after the 12-volt fiasco, I think I have to go "pneumatic" or brawn. :laugh:

Any advice, suggestions or past experience will be appreciated. TIA.

Edit. p.s., I don't have a garage or lots of space in the utility room. Hence, the smallest applicable and acceptable compressor requirement.

Click to expand...

Lug nuts should not be tighter than 90 ft/lbs. Tire shops and Stealerships do not understand this and use impact guns to put wheels on. They stretch studs, warp rotors and wheels and make it very difficult for people to change tires on the side of the road. I use my impact gun for REMOVAL only. When installing ANYTHING I set it to the lowest setting and then hand tighten or use a Torque Wrench from there. BTW, they also do not know how to properly use a Torque Wrench either.

An air ratchet is an incridble time saver and typically will require a bigger tank than an impact requires. They use less CFM but over a longer period of time and will drain a tank fast. Impacts are generally used in short bursts giving the compressor time to catch up with lost air.

I have a Craftsman 30 Gallon 5hp compressor that I have used for almost 10 years and it is way more than enough to run air tools. It lists impact wrenchs and air ratchets at 90-125psi. Your biggest problem is going to be tank size. A 3 gallon tank will be the minimum. The bigger the tank the less time you have to wait between uses.

We use an Electic impact on the Scoobie and it works great. You just have to purchase one that has a torque rating over 150 ft/lbs to be truely effective. It lasts over a weekend on one charge and is genrally used on several cars. I don't recall the brand since it is not mine.

I just use a small Paslode vertical pancake roofing compressor to run all my air tools. Never have had a real problem with a smaller tank. The whole works is completely portable too.

I bought an Ultimate Garage 2 kit by Campbell Hausfeld last summer for like 25% off since I work at Menards.

I love the thing to death. 8 gal, and came with staple gun, air ratchet, impact wrench, engine cleaner, spray gun, and an attachment to fill up your tires.

Picking up higher quality spray kit next month to do my mirko and possibly front bumper :laugh:

The 8 gal is fine for me. I can't see myself wasting money on anything more since my air pressure regulator keeps the pressure stablized and the compressor always clicks back on when it gets down to around 115psi.

2000SilverSVT said:

Lug nuts should not be tighter than 90 ft/lbs. Tire shops and Stealerships do not understand this and use impact guns to put wheels on. They stretch studs, warp rotors and wheels and make it very difficult for people to change tires on the side of the road. I use my impact gun for REMOVAL only. When installing ANYTHING I set it to the lowest setting and then hand tighten or use a Torque Wrench from there. BTW, they also do not know how to properly use a Torque Wrench either.

Click to expand...

Obviously, you have not worked on very many different cars. For instance, a Ford Taurus is supposed to get torqued to 100 Ft/lbs. A Chevy 2500-3500 truck/van gets torqued to 140 ft/lbs. And you can use a impact gun to put wheels on, if you use a torque stick! The dealership people should know this. Tire shops, well, you're trusting your car to a 16 y/o punk kid who thinks honda's are the god of speed!

As far as air tools go, ingersol Rand is never a bad choice. They actually make most of the air tools for most of the other tool companies. Including snap-on, mac, and matco! Northern Tools normally has pretty good prices on they tools. You get what you pay for, as with anything. If you're just a weekend mechanic then you'll probably have a hard time justifying buying some of the upper end tools. But thats just my opinion. I work with air tools all day everyday, so they are my life line and a well worth investment in my industry.


Robert

RobSVT-t said:

..... If you're just a weekend mechanic then you'll probably have a hard time justifying buying some of the upper end tools. ...Robert

Click to expand...

Robert,
I know it is hard to believe this, but I am nothing more than (maybe very much less than) a weekend mechanic.

But your suggestions, as well as all those posted so far are greatly appreciated. And I am grateful for them.

I have not made a decision nor do I have to make one in the near future yet. In my house, Santa does not arrive until the 25th of December.

Assuming you're still looking for an answer to the initial question....

What you need to "hammer out lug nuts" is PSI, not necessarily size or capacity. Here's how the specs break down:

Tank size: Determines how long you'll be able to run your air tool at a given PSI setting before it no longer has enough air pressure to run at that PSI.

Motor/pump HP and CFM rating: Determines how quickly the tank will refill once the pressure drops (see above).

Tools like a buffing wheel or air grinder will use a lot of air since they'll be on for a sustained period, instead of being used in bursts as an air hammer or impact wrench would be. For these, get a larger tank so you won't get stuck waiting on the motor to fill the tank as often.

Another thing you can do is get a small tank with a big motor, and then buy a new large tank. Sometimes you can save some $$ doing this, but not all the time.

As for tools, Chicago Pneumatic has some excellent, durable tools. I've had mine for years and they work like new. Of course, I oil them every time I use them, and I plan on installing an in-line oiler at some point. Ingersoll-Rand also has some excellent tools, though if you want to have them around for years get the high-end line. If you need to do it on a small budget, get the cheapies - they may not fail for years.

HTH....

yeah that oiling sure is important. At my old work we used a few air-powered devices and I swear I was the only one that ever took proper care of the damned things. We would have pretty decent tools and theyd be fried in less than a month.