My 12 year old Emglo AM78 compressor just gave out. The motor will cost as much as a new one so it’s time to go shopping. I read the review from the 12/98 FHB but many of these units are NLA or just hard to find. I will probably just buy from HD or Lowes. This limits the selection somewhat. Not particular about oil or oil-less. Needs to be reasonably quiet (the Emglo was not) and able to keep up with the rapid fire of a framing gun or roofing gun. Most of the time I park the compressor in a basement near a dedicated outlet and run a 100 feet or so of hose to the work area. Any experience or incite would be helpful. thanks.
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Most of the oiless are cheap, noisy and have shorter lifespans (except like the one my diver friend uses to fill SCUBA tanks that cost a bazillion $$$'s).
There are still a few of the Emglo double tank 2 HP floating around that didn't get smeared with yellow paint..yea, they're noisy, but they last.
I helped my neighbor buy a compressor for her husband for Christmas...it's a 20 gal. elect. Porter Cable. It's fairly quiet and I think the CFM is about 6 or 8 (not sure on that). The compressor itself is a Dewiss so it should hold up....it's a nice looking unit, should run a couple of framing guns...cost about $350.
Jules Quaver for President 2004
Thanks for the advice. The little 'formerly blue' twin tanks are going for about the $350.00 at the big ORANGE BOX. I did buy a replacement last night at the big BLUE BOX. I got the oil-less 4.5 hp 15 gal Porter Cable ($200.00) similar to what you helped your friend get. Thinking that if the tank was bigger, the compressor would not cycle as much and thus less annoying noise, plus maybe it would run my automotive tools too. Well try again! This unit is just as loud if not louder than the Emglo was and easily cycles on and off just as much. I used it today in nailing down floor sheathing with my trusty 10-yr old Pasload framer and was able to outrun it easily. I thought having a big tanks would cure that. So back to square one. Is this just the Porter-Cable name slapped on a cheapy??
I think the problem is that you got the oiless...the one I helped my neighbor with is an oil bath compressor and runs pretty quiet. I haven't used his, just watched it charge up so he could air up his tractor tires. The oiless, as I said before, are gonna be cheaper...I saw some around Xmas time with 20 gal upright tanks going for $149 and they looked pretty cool until you began to scrutinize.
My Emglow is the small twin tank 2 hp and puts out about 4.3 CFM. I can run one framer pretty steadily on it, but can starve it if I'm going hard on sheathing. The 20 gal tank with a 2HP motor would give the same output, but with a little better duty cycle because of the larger reservoir.
I may be mistaken about the CFM of my neighbor's Porter Cable, but it should be totally capable of keeping up with my emglo.
Jules Quaver for President 2004
I got a Dewalt Emglo single tank with 2 outlets and both pressure gauges early last year.
Works like a charm with the framer going all day, change the oil regularly and drain the tank. I'll probably hand it down to my son.
At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
Look at the Thomas 2820. Twin cylinder, twin tank, low amp draw, quick recycle, and quieter than most. Oiless.
Thomas makes a great compressor. Here's a link to compare:
http://www.bobstools.net/Store/Thomas.html
Locally I was able too buy for less than what they charge on that site.
There was a compressor thread in the Tools section a while back. I did a search though, and came up blank.
I just purchased a new Hitachi EC12 twin-tank 2 HP 4 gallon compressor. The top tank on my old one had developed a leak at the bottom of the tank. Now I have a spare compressor motor just in case.....
I was in our local Cleveland-area Harbor Freight retail store the other night and noticed they carry the Emglo twin-tank 2 HP 4 gallon (similar specs to my Hitachi) for $ 199.00.
Good Luck.
The size of the receiver tank will make no real difference with nailers under steady use. Big tanks are meant to allow high air flow for short duration with a not-so-big pump, like running a big impact wrench or blow gun, with time in between for recharge. Tanks are simply cushions for intermittent high demand. Nailers use a relatively small amount of air per nail, but they can use them as fast as you can pull the trigger, so the demand is more steady-state, like a sander or sprayer. For production use, the steady-state output of the compressor must exceed the demand, or you run out, regardless of tank size.
If your nailer takes 1/10 cubic foot of air at 90 psi per nail, and you work at 40 nails per minute steadily, that compressor needs to produce 4 cfm steadily, or it won't keep up. Ignore the silly horsepower claims on the label, and look at the output at 90 psi. Manufacturers of the cheapies tend to fudge them, too, but if your old one worked well for your needs, try to find out the air delivery it produced and match or exceed that in a new one from a reputable manufacturer. Remember also that the oilless cheapies probably won't work at 100% duty cycle (running constantly) for very long, unlike the high quality units. So I guess I'm saying that if your paycheck depends on your compressor, buy good quality of adequate size. I've never seen a bad review of a Thomas compressor. The PC pancake I have is loud, doesn't produce much air, and wouldn't last long framing, but I just use it for brad and finish nailing when I need portability. My 30 year old Sears belt-driven cast iron 1 (real) hp 20 gallon, on the other hand, is a workhorse, and still gets the most use.
Be seeing you...