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General Topics/Tech TipsDiscussion on break in periods, rider comfort, seats and pad suggestions. Tech tips as they become available will be posted here.
Well, my Craftsman air compressor finally died today. No warning, just a lot of noise, which is easy to understand looking at the broken rod. It was one of those god awful noisy oil free direct drive units, the kind you can hear running a block away from your home. It gave me good service for over 25 years though.
I’m thinking it’s not cost effective to repair it and parts aren’t likely available for something this old anyway so I’m looking to buy another compressor with a similar output.
The one that died was labeled as a 240v 6 HP with an 11.5 scfm @ 90 psi delivery compressor sitting on a 60 gallon tank.
Who can recommend a reliable brand or model with a similar output and tank? When I look online at the big box stores it seems they start at 900 and go up from there. I don’t want to spend more than 1200. Like so many things these days, when I look at the negative reviews it makes my head want to explode. Everything seems like junk and brands that were good years ago are often crap now. If you've got some good experience with a similar model please share some info as I need to replace this thing soon. Thanks.
well mr. larry that go for just about everything out there.
another spoiler alert
everything mechanical has a cycle life. that said failure is destine to happen.
the number "1" enemy of a compressor is heat. most people will run the snot out of one that is not sized for the job and this stresses all of the components.
bother-in-law found a throw away commercial unit with bad crank, he made a set of bearings out of shoe leather and it ran probably another 20 years.
i would not own a direct oil less unit, i prefer maintenance. i like aeroshell 500 for its aversion to water, good enough for a solar jupiter good enough for a compressor.
I used to be a fan of IR products and figured when the Craftsman compressor gave up I'd replace it with an IR but these days I don't think so. They have a high percentage of negative reviews for the price. I have had no problems with their impact tools but they were bought a long time ago. I'm glad yours has worked well for you and thanks for your input. I did look at this one from Northern Tool but was turned off by the 1500 hour compressor life quoted in the Q&A.
IR is still a great product, not sure where you got your data, and my experience with them goes far beyond the little compressor for my house.
I just finished the latest replacement of a T30 at one of our shops after 36K hours, and have bought at least 15 others in our facilities. I am really pleased with the screw unit and drier I have at the main shop, it is pushing 40K hours, and still hasn't leaked a drop.
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