air compressors

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From: "justin rego" <justinrego[AT]hotmail.com >
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Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 6:48 PM
Subject: air compressors

What size air compressor

Quoted text begins.should I get? Is 5 hp enough?
justin
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Hi Justin

Yes a 5 hp compressor will be enough. However all 5 hp compressors are not
the same. The number you want to be looking at is the cfm that the
compressor will put out at 90 or 100 psi. For several years I got by with a
2 hp portable that put out about 7 cfm. It ran a 3/4 inch short stroke
hammer just fine, although the compressor never cycled off while the hammer
was running. I could not run tools like sanders, die grinders etc with it
though since the air requirements for those tools exceeded what the
compressor could generate. Today I use a two stage 5 hp compressor that
generates 17 cfm at 150 psi, and about 18.5 at 90 psi. I can run 3 carving
hammers at the same time, or a hammer plus a sander or grinder together.

Also, the size of the storage tank is not so important as the tools you will
be using require continuous air, not spot loads. In other words, if the
compressor head can not generate the air supply the tool demands, it doesn't
matter how much air you can store, the tool will not run efficiently, and
will bog down. I use both cuturi hammers and trow&holden hammers, and the
are both good tools. For limestone my standby is a T&H 3/4 inch short
stroke, but my 5/8 inch cuturi does a lot of the finer detail work. With
marble, I very rarely use anything smaller than a 1 inch hammer... Just find
out what the air requirements for the tools you plan on using, and
compressor shop accordingly.

Good luck,
John VanCamp / JVC Stoneworks