On Apr 20, 8:16*am, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
Ignoramus32638 wrote:
My advise is to not buy it, it is too small for some real life uses.

3hp too small? *Not for 90% of us, I'd say. *You'd be in the other 10%
only if you're doing a lot of sand blasting, DA sanding, or spraying.

Bob

For years I used a homebrew 1/2 HP compressor for sandblasting and
painting rusty car parts. With an external tank it will run the Sears
1-qt pressure feed sandblasting gun at 50 PSI for hours. The
compressor drops slowly while I'm blasting but catches up while I
refill the cannister. It had no problem keeping up with a 30 PSI spray
gun when I repainted the car.

The pulleys are sized for a little over 100% of rated motor current at
the 90 PSI cutoff. The built-in 12 Gal tank fills quickly so the motor
doesn't get very hot. I wrote a chart on the tank listing the max
pressure for several pulley sizes, based on measured motor current.

When sandblasting it stays between 50 and 70 PSI and an external fan
helps cool the motor and head. I hang up a large pressure gage to
monitor it and unplug the compressor when I'm interrupted and the
pressure (and temperature) rises.

I finally had to buy a larger compressor for my plasma cutter.
Otherwise the Sears 1/2HP cap-start motor and this compressor
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2Z498 have been enough.

It's discontinued, I should buy spare parts so it never breaks.

Jim Wilkins