billhum wrote:
Can someone tell me what minimum size of compressor is needed for
spray painting? I would describe myself as a serious amateur and the
machine would be used for the occaisonal spray painting of laquer in
a domestic workshop.

Perhaps there is a site online with information: I would be pleased
to know its address.


Hmmmm... minimum size, huh? Tough question to answer. Bigger is better
though so buy the biggest you can afford and have room for. It really
depends on your useage though. Spray painting covers a big area of
concerns. You will need to figure out what type of spray equipment you'll
be using, what types of materials you'll eventually be spraying, what
anicllary type of equipment you may use.

I have a 5HP, 30gal single stage compressor in my garage and I use it for
everything from air wrenches (plenty sufficient, though I do wish I could
get more psi out of it), to DA's for body work (not nearly sufficient for
this), to spray painting cars (plenty sufficient for this - both single
stage paints and base/clear coat), and assorted other less demanding tasks.
Capacity and Cubic Feet Per Minute (CFM) are the two ratings you'll be
concerned for. 8-9 CFM will be ok for almost any gun (I use DeVilbiss and
Binks guns) and 30 gal is enough capacity for that also. For general
woodworking this is certainly plenty of compressor. If you're like me and
you do lots of other things than woodworking and need a compressor that does
it all, I'd be looking at a two stage unit with 60 gals of capacity and over
10CFM of delivery rate.

--

-Mike-