On Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:59:46 -0700, Ashton Crusher
wrote:

I've often wondered how much of the "energy" is getting lost thru
pressure drop in the hose from my air compressor to the tool. Plus
the thru hole in the fittings is pretty small. Yet none of the
regular outlets seems to carry any larger diameter hose or fittings. I
think the standard is around 1/4" or maybe 3/8. It' seems like a
larger hose would make tools that use a fair amount of air work a lot
better. Has anyone used larger hose and can offer a comparison?

The material, length, amount of connectors, pressure, turbulence,
temperature, humidity, leaks(!) can greatly affect the volume and
"behavior" of delivered air. When using a blowgun short air spurts
are often better than one long slower blast. With a larger hose of
the same material the hose itself can store more energy--may be good
(or not) depending on your specific application/tool.