I agree with Sarge. I bought a 7 HP, 60 gal. upright. Runs my impact without breaking a sweat! a DA sander will put it through it's paces though. those things suck ALOT of air! pick out the biggest thing you can afford then borrow some money from a buddy and buy the next model up! you wont regret it!. Wade

See I was going to invest in OBA instead of Shop Compressor... what would ya'll do... I just dont think a York could hold up with continous duty... plus my car would have to run all the freakin time... I want enough power to paint a whole car, grind the fawk out of anything and do whatever and not OVER HEAT... So a 5-7hp 60+ gallon tank is going to be the best bet?

i run air tools on a 5hp an a 30 gallion tank an have no problem an i use it a lot,i live on a farm so i use it as much as enybody exceped maybe a body man i want a bigger one but it works, an i can move it around.
as for the york i just put one on my jeep. an it is impressive for what it is, but you do have to have the jeep runing all the time.
go at least 5hp an 20 gallon.

duke

And above all, remember that two-cylinder is not necessarily two-stage. Single-stage compressors, regardless of the number of cylinders, start to run out of breath around 100 PSI. Most tools call for 90 to 100 PSI, which takes 125 to 150 in the tank. A single-stage compressor will work mighty hard doing that.

And what's the deal with two-cylinder, single-stage compressors anyway? Once you have two cylinders, why not make it two-stage? I've never understood that.

Twin cylinder single stage units just provide more cfm and a little faster recovery rates . That's about it , they still suck .....
Sarge

what's the differance between single and 2 stage compressors? I've heard to get a dual stage but don't have a clue what the differance is.

BarrelRoll

In a two-stage compressor there is a big piston that pumps air into a small, second-stage cylinder, which pumps it into the tank. There are mechanical limitations, I don't know what exactly, that cause a single stage compressor to become very inefficient at higher pressures. Usually they have their pressure switch set at 125 PSI.

Two-stage shop compressors typically are set at 175 PSI, and run well at those pressures. High-pressure pumps, like scuba compressors, have 5 to seven stages, and pump to 3,500 PSI or more.

And as I said earlier, there are two-cylinder, single stage compressors. There are big ones with 5 HP motors and 50 gallon tanks that look pretty impressive, but the fine print will say 125PSI. That may sound OK to run a tool that calls for 90 PSI, but with pressure drop in the dryer, oiler, fittings and hose, you need almost 125 in the tank to have a full 90 at the tool. And once you start using the tool, the tank pressure will drop, and it takse a single-stage pump a long time to get it back to 125.

A two-stage compressor set will cost quite a bit more than a single stage, twin cylinder unit of similar size. I suspect that the reason is that a two-stage unit is likely to live in a commercial setting and run more than it's shut off, so they have to be built better.

I bought a used Ingersoll Rand for about as much as a similar size single stage at Sam's, and am glad I did.

Get the biggest, meanest, one you can find. Look for a old used one out of a old gas station they are tearing down. I have a compressor made in 1945. It sits on a 55 gallon tank with a huge compressor on it. That i keep for a spare. The one that is running my shop right now, has a 60 gallon tank with a V style compressor. My spare i paid 50 bucks for. I was driving past a old gas station getting torn down and saw the compresser sitting in a room with one wall all ready missing. I stop in asked the guy in the dozer how much. He said 50 bucks and you have 30 mins to get it out while they were at lunch. They nice part was they left there sawzal pluged in for me and while i was cutting my buddy was coming with his wrecker to pick it up and take it home. The only thing you have to watch with the big industrial compressor is the motors. Make sure they are 220. Alot of them of 3phase. I have 3phase in my shop so that doesnt matter for me.