WFO Herb wrote:
> "Oil Free" isn't the hot setup. This was a cost
> reduction effort on manufactures part in order to
> be competitive in the sales market. Think about it... does it
> make sense metal-to-metal is better than running on a
> thin film of oil... NOT
I believe the oil-free ones actually run in a plastic
bore or something for just this reason. I think this
also affects their compression chamber sealing ability,
which is why they are generally small pistons running
extremely fast and noisily.
I agree all around, go oil.
More is better of course, but I guess it's important
to throw in a data point so that you at least know
what you can expect for each unit.
I have a 5hp Campbell Hausfeld 30 gal unit. I had
a strong strong desire for a 110v unit so I can take
it to cottages and friends places and stuff without
having to wire up their house first.
...So I bought basically the biggest 110v unit I
could find.
I've been fine with it. It runs everything I own. I
painted my MGB with it without problems, although it
ran pretty much continuously for that job.
I also use it to sandblast in a small cabinet, but
it likely wouldn't run an external sandblaster for
a great length of time. In the cabinet it's fine
because I'm always stopping to switch items and
such, but I likely couldn't set up in my driveway
and sandblast a whole car.
I probably couldn't run a DA sander continuosly,
but I've found for most hobbyist tasks running
continuously is rare.
If I sanded cars for a living, I'd want to
be able to start and just go for hours, but on my
projects I usually spend a lot of time stopping
and examining and thinking and thumbing manuals
and such.
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
"Clown college.... pfffft... can't eat that..." - Homer Simpson
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