What do you use compressed air blower in your workshop for?

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If you have a compressor, you already have the motive power for lots of tools, but we all still buy electric everything. Does anyone have an air-powered orbital sander, for example?
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/air-sanders-polishers/
I have no experience with them, other than a friend who used to sand and paint airliners (and you thought sanding a table was dull). I assume is more for the automotive paint market, but just wondered if there is any mileage in it for woodwork...
 
Trainee neophyte":1kz0h355 said:
If you have a compressor, you already have the motive power for lots of tools, but we all still buy electric everything. Does anyone have an air-powered orbital sander, for example? I have no experience with them, other than a friend who used to sand and paint airliners (and you thought sanding a table was dull). I assume is more for the automotive paint market, but just wondered if there is any mileage in it for woodwork...

Air power is more expensive by a decent margin because of the compressor motor.

If I sanded for an hour straight with an air sander the cost of the compressor re-filling the tank constantly stands somewhere about 80 pence.

An electric random orbital sander, however, would be something like 20 pence at most.
 
Trevanion":zrtnks1f said:
Air power is more expensive by a decent margin because of the compressor motor.

If I sanded for an hour straight with an air sander the cost of the compressor re-filling the tank constantly stands somewhere about 80 pence.

An electric random orbital sander, however, would be something like 20 pence at most.

A very valid point. I also can't stand the noise, which is why I am not enthusiastic to get more air tools, but I do have a needle gun which is excellent for cleaning up stuff, especially rusty railings. I also decalcified a swimming pool with it once, which was less fun.
 
That's an Asian copy of an industrial sander like the ones Dynabrade make. I have a 6" Dynabrade and it works beautifully but it does need a lot of air to run. My 5 hp/80 gallon can keep up (running about 50% of the time) to it but wouldn't if it was a bigger sander. Since I already have it I'm not about to buy an electric as I can buy a lot of electricity for the cost of a good one.

Pete
 
Trevanion":330aa2bl said:
An electric random orbital sander, however, would be something like 20 pence at most.

Average price per kWh ~16p
Average power rating of an ROS ~300w

It's more like 5p an hour

No idea about the compressor cost.
 
transatlantic":vulrvsyp said:
It's more like 5p an hour

No idea about the compressor cost.

I'm way off my assumption then! :lol:

By that maths, the compressor costs about 35.2 pence per hour to run with a 2.2KW motor, but really if you were running the sander constantly it would probably kick in every other minute or so, so you could half that to 17.6 pence, which is still triple running an orbital sander for 5 pence.
 
I'd recommend fitting a regulator near your air blower. This was the smallest inline one I could find and cost about a fiver
393c634052fc482ea8b351d22fe8c41b.jpg

Even though the trigger varies the amount of airflow by how much its pressed i still found i would always blow stuff everywhere just because.......just because I enjoyed the power I think lol
f9cd62a32c87d8d2fe959ff695ec9719.jpg

At least now I can fiddle with the airflow and get a constant low pressure without altering the compressor end each time.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
Trevanion":3rv4ctym said:
Trainee neophyte":3rv4ctym said:
If you have a compressor, you already have the motive power for lots of tools, but we all still buy electric everything. Does anyone have an air-powered orbital sander, for example? I have no experience with them, other than a friend who used to sand and paint airliners (and you thought sanding a table was dull). I assume is more for the automotive paint market, but just wondered if there is any mileage in it for woodwork...

Air power is more expensive by a decent margin because of the compressor motor.

If I sanded for an hour straight with an air sander the cost of the compressor re-filling the tank constantly stands somewhere about 80 pence.

An electric random orbital sander, however, would be something like 20 pence at most.

Air tools are significantly favoured in a production environment for a few reasons.
1) tools at the point of use are much lighter meaning they are a lot less tiring to use.
2) air tools tend to have less vibration so can be used for longer periods with much less risk of HAVS
3) the total cost of ownership of the tools (purchase costs plus running costs) is lower than the equivalent electric motor tools
4) there's a lot less to go wrong with an air tool system than with a wide number of electric tools.
5) in most air tools it is much easier to regulate the torque and speed of the air motor through managing the pressure and flow of air - something which is much harder to do on electric tools.
6) they are less valuable to nick!
7) for some jobs, the ability of air tools to generate much higher torque than electric tools (and without increased wear) make them the ONLY practical tool for the job - there's a reason airtools are the tool of choice in say a car mechanics workshop - an air impact wrench is a classic example of this.
8) at the point of use they are MUCH quieter. you can isolate and insulate the noise from the 'motor'(compressor) and the tool in the hand can be pretty close to silent.

If you aren't working in a large factory environment then some of the benefits above start to diminish in value. Especially to point that in a hobby workshop you're probably only really interested in maybe 4 or 5 of the above.

As always it is horses for courses. I do think that the lone/amateur DIYer or hobbyist is kind of pushed towards electric tools by the market where air tools may offer benefits but are never considered because of the start up cost of investing in a compressor. This is also true of cordless tools... they are marketed a lot to people where the tool probably never leaves the workshop.
 
Brandlin":2pbsknbl said:
Air tools are significantly favoured in a production environment for a few reasons.

Oh yes, When you see large factory closures on auction sites there's always swathes of air tools and not a single cordless tool in sight. Air power tools definitely have massive bonuses if you're working with them day in, day out like a factory setting, there's very little to go wrong with an air drill for example as there are no electrical pixies driving the spinny end, plus as you said they're much smaller and lighter for the same power output.

I once saw a Wadkin C5 bandsaw on eBay that had been converted to run on air power, apparently for working in an extremely flammable environment.
 
phil.p":3vhrjz8y said:
I saw my uncle (many moons ago) using an air driven three foot bar chainsaw ............. scary wasn't the word. :shock:

I've been thinking about one of these, or similar:
potatore_catena%20laser.jpg


It weighs 2kg! My current saw weighs 3.5kg, plus fuel. The downside is having to lug a huge compressor around the field, but I don't have to lift that above my head, so I might win there. Also I would have to drag the air line through the tree, which would be annoying.

Still just thinking about it...
 
I was in the same situation as the OP, wondering what to buy. Do I get a small one just for tyres etc, or a bigger one for air tools etc. I chose a 3HP 100 litre one and have not regretted it once. It is quiet, having separate motor and compressor units. But, what to use it for?
Tyres, of course. Blowing dust? Off what?
Well I happen to have a smallholding and my compact tractor's radiator was clogged with dried grass etc causing overheating. The air gun cleaned it brilliantly with no damage ( whereas when I tried a pressure washer, well I buggered up the bottom few inches of cooling fins- lesson learnt).
I blow sludge off my car below the windscreen - accumulated rotted leaves.
I have cleaned out carburettor blockages in my lawnmower.
But the really useful thing I have found for the compressor is driving an impact gun. My 3/4" gun has not yet let me down when trying to undo rusted, stuck nuts whereas a longer tommy bar would simply have sheared off bolts.
I have an air drill - yet to use it.
I have spray guns, again unused - looks like a lot of cleaning up to me.
But the impact driver - brilliant tool.

One last thing. My air compressor had the motor size specified, also the psi, flow rate etc, but not the duty cycle. Apparently it should not start up more than12 times per hour, I think.
I suppose that is the difference between budget ranges and the expensive stuff ( mine was £200) but worth checking if you intend to run air tools which guzzle air, like sanders.

K
 
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