oilless compressors

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toglhot
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Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:03 pm

oilless compressors

Post by toglhot »

I'm looking at buying a new compressor as mine is now 25 years old and a little small for my requirements now. I'd be looking at something with a 200lpm output and oil less.

Anybody have one, used one or has experience with them, pros and cons?
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BadDog
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by BadDog »

I hate them, period. Horribly noisy rough things that often don't last if you actually use them for more than airing up tires or blowing off chips. I would never consider an oilless for real shop use of any sort. The lower grade wet sump compressors aren't that much more experience. From there you can upgrade to solid cast iron cylinders and beyond based on your needs. But a cheap wet compressor would be my bottom consideration.
Russ
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John Evans
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by John Evans »

Yep oilless are strictly for very light use inflating tires and such. Waste of money my opinion.
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toglhot
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by toglhot »

Some of the oil less compressors have outputs in excess of 3-400 lpm. Further they are advertised as quiet and are what is used in hospitals and so on. I think somethings gone skew here???
rrnut-2
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by rrnut-2 »

The oil less compressors used in hospitals are way beyond what is normally used by the hobbyist. They are similar to the compressors used for filling the air tanks that fire fighters use. The "affordable" oil less compressors that I have worked on, all use a rubber diaphragm between the piston and the cylinder head. We got about 300 hrs. of use between diaphragm changes. We had 5 10hp units for the water treatment plant. At least one was always kept as a standby, and they weren't that quiet.

Jim B
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ctwo
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by ctwo »

My oiless compressor is the absolute loudest machine tool I have. It gets very hot too. I don't like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKqB_p30DHU
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ChipMaker4130
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Location: Ivins, Utah

Re: oilless compressors

Post by ChipMaker4130 »

toglhot wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:19 am Some of the oil less compressors have outputs in excess of 3-400 lpm. Further they are advertised as quiet and are what is used in hospitals and so on. I think somethings gone skew here???
If you look at those, you'll find they are in the catagory of 'call us for pricing information'. These units actually use pistons in many cases and somewhat exotic materials (as far as compressors are concerned) is one reason the prices are so high. If your budget is that of a hospital, you'll probably find one you like!

This link: https://www.atlascopco.com/content/dam/ ... 084649.pdf
will get you a small PDF describing some of Atlas Copco's offerings, including a nice cutaway drawing.
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warmstrong1955
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by warmstrong1955 »

Without getting into the exotic Copco things, and just concerning the run of the mill oil-less compressors you get from Sears or Walmart or the ranch store....

I bought a 22 gal vertical Craftsman oil-less in 1997....give or take a year or two. A whopping 250 bucks at the time.
-6.8 CFM at 90PSI....so.... call it 190 lpm. Set at 120PSI. I think max is 150.
-Actually manufactured by Divilbiss.
-Single piston, PTFE piston ring w/chrome cylinder.
-Loud. Real loud. Wake up the dead loud. I named it the Noise-O-Matic. I used to wheel it outside and close the door so I didn't have to hear it so much. Neighbor used to come over and ask if I could wheel it inside so he could hear the football game. (tr ue story) I still heard it outside with the doors closed....just no ear plugs required. ;)
-I've been around many oil-less, and all have been loud. Nature of the oil-less piston beast. The slower RPM (1750) aren't so bad, but hey....half the air volume.
-It's light, so easy to maneuver around the shop, in the yard, or load in a pickup.
-For stuff around the home shop, intermittent duty, other than the noise, I can't complain. Plenty of air to run a impact and rotate your tires. It will run a die grinder, for a while. If you have lost of work, plan on waiting for air to build back up a time or 47 depending on what you are doing. Running mist on the lathe & mill....it will keep up, but never shut off. I'm sure that's what made mine fail prematurely.
-They claim the air end will last 500 hours. I would guess, just my gut feel with no actual hourmeter on the beast, that it's closer to 250. Not a biggy though. A repair kit, with a piston, conn rod, piston ring & gaskets was 30 bucks last time I bought one. I've recon'd mine twice. I've also recon'd a half a dozen others, including a couple Cambell Hausfields of similar construction, for friends, and my son. Takes 30 minutes to rebuild one. Easy.

If you use a compressor here & there, basically intermittent use, and can stand the noise, not a bad way to go. inexpensive, light. and parts are everywhere, like fleaBay, Amazon, Sears (while they still exist), even hardware stores.
If you got some heavy duty , especially continuous, compressed air uses or plans for the future (blast cabinet).....go cast iron two stage. I have a IR T30 now. I've change the oil every 3 years....and that's all I've done to it in the last 10 years since I converted it from Kohler gas burner to 230V. It's an oldie but a goodie. (use synthetic oil by the way if you go that route) My Noise-O-Matic is mostly just used for a receiver tank for the T30, a backup, and for portable use, like blowing out the sprinklers.

That's all I got.
So much for making a long story short...... I failed.
:)
Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
SteveM
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by SteveM »

If anyone local to southwestern CT wants the quietest air compressor you have ever (never?) heard, I have a dental office compressor for sale.

It's got a tank the size of a pancake compressor, and an insulated metal shroud over it.

If you are standing next to it, you can carry on a conversation.

My dad had it in the basement under the living room and you wouldn't know if it kicked in.

Not good for running impact guns, but good for blowing stuff off, and running air brushes.

Steve
mikeehlert
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by mikeehlert »

I needed an indoor low output oil less. Chose this as no one could stand the noise of equivalent output noise makers.

https://www.amazon.com/Makita-AC001-Com ... compressor

Three years of intermittent daily use and still happy
Mr Ron
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by Mr Ron »

You will love this compressor; very low noise, good output, aluminum tank (no rust). I'm extremely happy with mine. I would recommend this to anyone. I have 4 other compressors, but I can't use them due to the noise level. https://www.amazon.com/California-Air-T ... NVXBCH2BA9
Mr.Ron from South Mississippi
toglhot
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Re: oilless compressors

Post by toglhot »

As I said in my opening post, 200 lpm is the minimum output I'm after. As I don't live in America anything from Sears, Walmart Californoa air, grizzly, etc is of no use to me. I originally asked about oilless compressors, I think the question has been answered, thanks!
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