Super basic DIY air setup

Raymond_B

Raymond_B

Hobbyist
First I want to add some context as to why I am going with a sub-optimal setup :) One concession I made on the house my wife and I bought recently was that I would do without a garage (original owners converted the garage in to a studio) for a year or two and then build a nice detached setup once we got some other things out of the way. So I am working on my poor Mustang in an enclosed carport. Basically a 2 car garage with 3 sides.

I think the obvious solution would be, don't do anything until the 30x30 mancave is done. But I can't do that (well I'd be bored out of my mind) and have been stripping the car down. I don't want to do anything elaborate, but I have about 80% of the exterior down to the bare metal and have a few items to fix then I'd like to simply shoot some black epoxy on the car and call it done until a proper workspace is available.

My little Craftsman compressor is at least 10 years old, I think it's the 5HP 30Gal (~6CFM) that every wannabe has :) Once I get all the metal ready I was planning on shooting a fender at a time, then decklid, each quarter, doors, the roof, then finally the hood and any other small parts. From my reading if I split it up like that the compressor might keep up, is that a true assumption?

Also I have, at the moment, this for a filter http://www.harborfreight.com/industrial-air-filter-regulator-68247.html. If you guys have stopped laughing I was then going to build something like this http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1983296#post1983296 as posted in another thread.

Will those items give me enough dry air to shoot epoxy? Or am I just going to be wasting money? I was going to pick up some new hoses as well. Like I said this is just to protect the metal until I can get a proper work area.
 
You can shoot epoxy with that amount of air IF you don't have an air hog for a gun. I have a Sears and Sorebuck 30 gal compressor , twin cylinder single stage devilbiss head & one of those "magic" 5 hp electric motors that really are 2 hp. I have shot quite a bit of paint with it using Finex FX100 w/1.0 mini gun and that compressor. Yes it isn't a hoser, and you wont be huge film build up, but you will get it done with some patience.

I have no experience with the cheapo harbor freight purple guns, they appear to be air hogs and no quality control as well as being full of machining fluids ruining paint jobs if not taken apart and soak/washed before first use. end of rant.

The air dryer you link to, make sure at the very least you put 50 feet of min 3/8" air hose between it and the air compressor, then 3/8" hose to your gun. I been there done that too.
Not as humid here as your part of the world though, your results may vary.

we all gotta start somewhere, make do with what we got until we got better stuff to work with.

Another option is to roll it on like Shine said and block it out.

This boat was painted with that compressor and a JGA502 with no problems back in the day. ( never mind the buffer marks, it was time to go to the lake and not polish the paint, lol) 19' Manta Ray, 460 Ford,Panther pump, radared @ 81 mph .

 
If you are set up to shoot one panel at a time, you ought to be stripping one panel at a time also. It's not good to strip metal and just leave it sitting until you get around to finally priming it. All that bare metal that has been sitting needs to be sanded again just before priming.
 
crashtech;20295 said:
If you are set up to shoot one panel at a time, you ought to be stripping one panel at a time also. It's not good to strip metal and just leave it sitting until you get around to finally priming it. All that bare metal that has been sitting needs to be sanded again just before priming.
Click to expand...

Understood, the reason I started stripping the whole car first was to evaluate if I wanted to keep it after I found some really shoddy work on the right rear quarter panel. So far I haven't found any rust, just massive amounts of Bondo.
 
Would something like this work? Ingersoll Rand 2 stage compressor, 60 gallon tank, 1hp motor. Don't know the scfm but seems like it should be good enough?
 
That might be a typo. 60 gallon and 2 stage does not go with 1 horsepower. It's worth looking at becasue I bet it is 3 or 5 hp.
 
That's what I'm thinking, or someone put an undersized replacement motor on it. Does that price seem good? I don't know a ton about compressors but seems to be good, and he'll deal on it.
 
at that price i would expect it is as old as it looks and pumps a ton of oil . lets get real , a paint gun cost more than that. there are more junk chinese 3 hp compressors on the market than i've ever seen. you can not buy a 6 hp compressor for 400 - 500 dollars. my 5 hp cost 1200 dollars in 1984 and it was a rebuild.
 
Is there a way to quickly determine if it's pumping out oil? Like a blow gun on a paper towel etc? Reason I ask is that the guy inherited it in his garage and wants it out of his way, likely doesn't know much about it. Perhaps it's a piece of junk, perhaps it could be a deal. I'm going to look at it tonight and at worst case, use it as an opportunity to inspect it and learn. I don't have the deep pockets to afford a real one at this point since I'm just doing a few jobs on the side and prior have always just used my old Montgomery Wards single stage and limped by with that. I would respect that any serious body man would spend the dough and get a nice compressor and gun setup, I'm doing it on a shoestring budget.
 
you are going to learn the hard way about air and how important it is. but it's your call . i couldn't afford one either when i started but it is the tools that make the money .
and for the record campbell hausfield does not make a 6 hp compressor. they sell the same 3 hp as everyone else. look on the motor and the hp will be listed as SPL . small motor with dual starters .
 
the new ingersoll's at Norther Tool look nice too, not sure if they're up to snuff. I don't anticipate ever doing more than a job or two a month. I spent a small fortune getting my jewelry biz going with cnc equip etc, so my dough is tied up in all that. I have a healthy respect for quality tools.

But I do know from reading around here that your wisdom is far beyond my experience...So I really do appreciate the input.
 
the one they show as 6 hp is the same as any of the rest. 3 hp.
a true 5 hp compressor is going to dwarf those. 2 big boys can not lift mine . it will run dual belts and almost always be on an 80 gal tank.
the 5 hp motor i replaced 10 years ago cost me 600+ . having the pump rebuilt was 750 .
it pisses me off how they pawn that chinese junk off on folks and lie about the hp and cfm .
best check is to take a good gun and run it wide open for 30 min . a compressor putting out 40 lbs is useless for painting unless you do bikes and such.
 
15 cfm at 175 ????? my true 5 hp wont do that. one of these will work if your doing small stuff. piece at a time . but i just dont see it supplying a full clear coat . i look at the size of the motor and pump. my 5 hp electric motor is heavy as hell. it's twice the size of that one.
 
Usually a compressor that size will make it around a medium size car (just barely) if you have a fairly efficient gun like the Iwata.
 
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