What can I run off a 1 gal. Senco compressor?
 

those things are tiny - I'm wondering what air tools I can run of of it?

(it was so cheap I could not resist buying the thing - main use is for finish carpentry & it drives the 18 Ga. brad nailer just fine)

now I'm wondering if it will run an impact gun...

I doubt it.

for a few seconds.. then the pump will kick on and try to keep up...

Guns and impacts on a very short duty cycle. Any sanding, cutting, drilling, painting would be out.

Fill up bike tires? That might not even be enough to fill car tires without a cycle....

You can use small nailers and other quick use stuff. An impact would need at least a 20 or 30 gallon tank to run somewhat well.

Have you looked into electric impact wrenches? They keep getting better every year. Mine has loosened nuts torqued down over 200 ft/lbs.

http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/tool_detail.asp?productID=10452

You'll probably only get about two weak taps from that thing.
It always helps to use oil in the gun first.

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices has a $60 compressor f.s. for the occasional use.
I think there's a store coupon for ten bucks off that.

I used a Campbell Hausfield 4 gallon, twin stack unit for about 9 years until the shaft on the end of the motor sheared off.

I used it for nail guns ( framing, roofing, finish ) air chisel, sander, impact gun, air ratchet and I just painted my lemons car until it finally broke.

I just bought a new 'Ridgid' twin stack ( $250 at Home Depot ) and used my air chisel for 4 hours straight on it's first day doing some tear-out.

Sure it would great to have a big tank unit, but I need portability.


KT

air brush.

portability is key - this lil' gizmo is only 20 lbs.

I may see if it will run borrowed air tools.

I had gotten a 4GAL 2.2HP Dual tank Dewalt really cheap, befoe I knew anything about compressors. The only thing I could use it for was to put air in the 911's tires. Non of the air tools that I bought would work properly. I couldn't run a cut off wheel for more than 10 seconds. The air wrench took longer to get lugs off than doing by hand.

So I sold it to a contractor for $75 to use with his nail gun. Its got two hose attachments and he could "hammer" nails all day long.

Next I bought a 28Gal 3.5 HP for next to nothing thinking that would do the job. It doesn't wiegh too much either. It works better but still isn't enough to run the cut off wheel at full capacity.

Its all in the SCFM's when running air tools. PSI doesn't really mean too much. You can have 150PSI but only 2SCFM and it won't do too much with air tools.

I'm going for a 10-15 SCFM minimum next go around.

For air nailers you can't beat a little pancake compressor for portability.

Just my $.02

what is the S in SCFM?

standard

My contractor father in law uses one for his finish and brad nailer. For small tasks it's awesome, nothing worse than lugging around a big compressor to nail on a single piece of baseboard.

Had one and sold it. Very handy for quick projects, light and easy to transport. BUT, very loud, long cycle time, gets really hot and had several poor user reviews (check Amazon). Enjoyed mine while I had it - stepped up to a 1/2 gallon Thomas (just because I'm very impusive when it comes to tools) The build quality of Thomas compressor's is unreal:


Thomas T-617HDN (26 lbs)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263780587.jpg

And, I've got one of these in the garage: T-30HP—1 1/4 HP Air Compressor (43 lbs)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1263781347.jpg