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?

Graph showing pressure loss per 100 feet (loss is proportional to
lengty) for hoses from 1/4" to 1" diameter. Even going from 1/4" to
5/16" can help if the compressor is marginal:

http://adlersantiqueautos.com/images/compressed2.jpg