On 27 Oct 2004 15:56:01 -0700, (John
Durham) wrote:

Andy - thanks for such a detailed response - your experience makes me
comfortable that this is the way to go. In answer to your question on
price for the T3/150 it is 350 inc vat with a 40 piece set of tools
(which I have not seen but assume will be next to useless - perhaps
unfairly). Looking on the web the price is ok but not the cheapest by
20 quid or so but Costco's after sales (i.e. any problem full refund/
no questions) is worth 20 quid.

Well yes, but be very careful here.

I haven't read their Ts & Cs on returns lately because generally I've
only bought small items and things like mineral water there.

Remember that they are a trade supplier and you are not therefore
buying as a consumer. You can't pay by credit card either, so you
don't have the credit card company to fall back on either.

Is it 12months unconditional return, or ??

For that reason, I would (did) buy on line using a card. If all else
fails you have two legal remedies - the supplier and card company.


Do you know who are the leaders for
supplying compressors in the uk?

In terms of unit volume, I would think that SIP are, followed by
Clarke (Machine Mart). There are higher end manufacturers like
Hydrovane and HPC, but these are more at the industrial end of the
market.



The tech guy at SIP told me that for the past 12 months or so their
compressors are SIP badged FINI which I took to be a good thing - is
that sound?

www.finicompressors.com

These do appear to be the ones....



Finally - am I being a bit over excited getting this size machine for
running a Senco FinishPro 25 brad nailer?

If it were just for that, yes, by a long way. A 25 litre compressor
will happily run a nail gun at a high hit rate.

I have a Senco framing nailer and ran that with no problems from a 25
litre unit. It uses a lot more air than a brad nailer, producing a
satisfying thud as large nails are driven.

I realise I could go
smaller but past (limited) experience has been that small compressors
are a pain - esp. as you mention when the noise is higher pitch and
they keep cutting in and out. I discounted the smaller one in Costco
(T2/50.0) as it is oil less direct drive for this reason. Any other
suggestions for what I should consider (bearing in mind I would like
not to have to buy a larger compressor in the future for spraying etc
if avoidable) but if there is a suggested good quality smaller and
perhaps quiet machine it could be worth a look...


For spraying it is really the receiver size and lpm rate.

The 150 litre one definitely copes with spraying with any of my
sprayers as continuously as I need it to do so.

A 25 litre one will also handle a sprayer, but not continuously - you
have to keep stopping to wait for it to refill the receiver.

One could probably get good spray results with a 100 litre model.

Other tools that are air hungry are sanders, drills and that type of
thing - really anything with a rotating or rapidly oscillating
component.



..andy

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