I have an electric tire inflator that looks similar to this (perhaps an older model):
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I don't like the tire chuck -- I have to flip a lever to compress the rubber washer to seal around the valve stem. This lever is hard to operate and the seal often leaks. The pressure gauge is way off. To make it worse, I have a scooter with hard to reach valve stem.
I'm thinking of getting a compressor with a tire chuck. I believe this is more like the ones at gas station which I like -- you push the tire chuck onto the valve stem with one hand, press a "trigger" with the other hand and the air starts pumping. Release the trigger and a built-in gauge shows the pressure fairly accurately.
Would a small compressor like this work?
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I'll probably buy a tire chuck like this as well:
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I never owned or used a compressor, so I'd like to hear others' opinions.
I'm no expert but a while back bought the cheap (I believe $39) 3 gal HF compressor but needed to buy extra hoses and attachments. I suspect the Sears unit is too small for anything but inflation as my HF unit is too.
Found the compressor gauge is not adequate for inflating tire alone as you need to check with a separate gauge which maybe the bottom Sears url would do.
Previous tire inflator was similar to yours and works fine except it takes much longer. To inflate something like a flat tire on my wheel barrow, compressor is much better.
They're handy, but. . . hey take a while, and I managed to do $500 worth of damage to my wiring harness with one. My mechanic says they are good for his business. They are marginally too much power for most power outlets so they work fine until the stars align and you run them a little longer than normal -- then they melt the harness together.
I think I'll put another power outlet under the hood with a bigger gauge wire- because they are handy as hell.
-snip-
It will work fine--- But. . . . A compressor is something I didn't own until I was 50-something. Then I smacked myself in the head and couldn't believe I hadn't bought one 30 years earlier.
If you *ever* do any woodworking, metalworking, brickworking, painting, or blowing up of large inflatables- you might want to get a bigger compressor. That one will fill tires, and maybe run a nail gun.
It probably won't run any; painting tools, shears, nibblers, scalers, chisels, cut-off tools, or air hammers. I'd look over what's available in tools-- pick out what I'm likely to use someday & buy a compressor that will run them. Keep in mind that compressor manufacturers inflate their SCFM numbers, and tool manufacturers deflate them. So a tool that says it needs 6 SCFM isn't likely to run well on a compressor that says it will produce 6 SCFM.
OTOH-- that one won't break the bank and doesn't take up much room.
I love my Milton 506;
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I've never been a proponent of get the biggest- newest- bestest- or any of that. I get 'good enough'. But I have been a little frustrated when I've gone to use some air tools and didn't have enough CFMs to use them. [I have a harbor freight 8gallon 4-6CFM compressor that was about $120 & has paid for itself 10 times over in a few years. But if I had it to do over again, I'd get one that would do
8-10 SCFM so I could paint and use my sand blaster a little more efficiently.]
Get one that runs off the house current, not the car's battery.
Compressors have two measures: Maximum pressure (PSI) and cubic feet per minute (CFM). For tires, CFM is relatively meaningless - you've got all day. Where CFM matters is using air tools where the compressor has to keep up with the tool. For piddly jobs around the house, 90-100 PSI and 1 CFM should be sufficient. These specs are adequate for inflating tires, using a brad or staple gun, and blowing the sawdust out of your pocket comb.
Shop around. The same hundred dollars buys you this at Lowe's:
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For Heaven's sake, why?? Both the Sears compressor you're looking at, and the one at Lowe's, come with a tire chuck and a gauge on the compressor. Why would you buy an extra tire chuck you don't need, for nearly half the cost of the compressor? If you're planning to spend over $140 already, spend a bit more for this:
Why would you buy a compressor? Buy an air tank such as:
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The one on my work truck is prolly 8 years old, used regularly, exposed to the elements (durable), and very cheap. If you buy a 'good' compressor you've paid too much to air up scooter tires. If you get a cheap one, they usually fail within a year. Fill it at your local station, it'll hold enough air for your tires for a year. If not, you need new tubes/tires. If too heavy, move down to a 5 gal.
Check your fuse block location; most vehicles I've seen in last 10 years or so have an extra accessory location or two; the pickups (a Chevy and a Dodge) have two 30A fused spare locations. Makes it a "piece o' cake" to do so and fused besides w/ a neat install.
I put the fuel transfer tank pumps on them to get rid of the cables w/ an inside-mounted keyed switch to minimize the ease of somebody emptying the tanks into _their_ vehicles. :) At nearly $4/gal, losing 150 gal of diesel isn't chump change any more...and far more prevalent an occurrence than used to be, too... :(
It's true, you can get this one at HF for only $39 with a coupon but I would have to say it's only barely passable. At 3 Gal and 100 psi it just does not store enough air to do anything but adjust 4 tires from 32 to 35 psi, and that's if you don't have any air escaping for any reason. I also have a 6 Gal/135 psi compressor and I can just grab it and inflate the tires (well, not from 0 to 35 of course) of two cars using just the stored air, then plug it in when I'm done. Problem is: the 6Gal one is three times as heavy as the 3Gal HF pancake and so I'm using the small one now and doing one car at at time.
So, if you can keep it plugged in while you're inflating those tires and the tires are not too big, it should suffice.
------------------------------------- /\_/\ ((@v@)) NIGHT ():::() OWL VV-VV
I got the same one but it's red, with accessories which includes hose, brad gun, tire chuck and air gun.
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was $59.99 when I bought it last year. Guess it was "on sale" when I was in there picking p a saw. Sears marks down tool prices sometimes. Even at $79 it's a better deal than at Harbor Freight. I was doing 3 rooms of new woodwork so the just the brad gun made it worth the price. For the brad gun it doesn't come on often. For a 15" car tire of standard width down to say 20 psi you have to fill it at least twice to get to 35 psi and it takes about 5-7 minutes to get your tire up, versus 5-10 seconds with a good compressor. Since there's no clip-on you have to hold the chuck the entire time and if your back or legs are bad it's a PITA. Better than nothing, but I got my tires refitted so I don't have to worry about checking them every week. For a scooter the 12v is fine for pumping up. I carried them in cars/vans for years and they work, but slow. So what, they clip on so you can walk away. Get a stick or dial tire gauge. A lot cheaper than that trigger gauge and probably just as accurate.
Yikes! That's a bit of overkill. I bought one like the smaller Victors and have had it banging around in my glove compartment and/or toolbox for 25 yrs. Still dead-on within +/- 2 psi. OTOH, that $40 model would be good for checking the calibration or the $7 Victor. ;)
Yes. Check the highest tire pressure you need for the bikes (often around 60 lbs) and look for a compressor that will handle more than that much pressure. 100 psi would likely work well for that, plus lawn equipment, etc, blowing out hoses, pipes, etc..
The type chuck you want s a decent one; mine is accurate and still agrees wth another pressure tester I have and my neighbor's tester. The mag-glass occasionally makes it hard to read if the light isn't just right. I thnk it's a Craftsman so no idea who the maker actually is.
Yes. IMO that's more than enough for what you've stated you want to do. Has a good set of specs that well match the bigger ones except for the size of the tank and probably run-time of the motor for a larger tank. The output psi setting is accurate; e.g. when it says 40 or 60 or 90 say, that s the precse output psi you will achieve. Didn't notice whether it would run on a cigarette lighter but it's going to run fine on 120 V ac as long as your wiring/amp specs meet or beat its requirements. Looks like a good deal. HATE mail-in rebates, though!
Who the f*ck would pay for air? The OP said he used it to air his scooter tires. A 10 gal tank at 100psi will hold enough air to pump his tires for a year. Nice rant tho.
And if the sole use is his scooter tires, how does that apply? Do you think he intends to strap it to his bike?
I have pretty much the exact same setup, with the same opinion, in my garage. The $39 HF model is a twin to the $69 or so Sears 'evolv' model, but the Sears version comes with lots of accessories, albeit cheap junk ones. HF usually has the real Goodyear 20-foot hoses on sale, and the cards of brass fittings and such.
I did buy an itty-bitty brad nailer (for trim work that I will probably never get around to) to use with the HF baby pancake, but I'm scared to try it out, for fear I will be disappointed- shoot 3 nails, wait 3 minutes, etc. The setup I have does tires okay, albeit slowly, but in hindsight, I shoulda bought a bigger one. Maybe next time Sears or HF has a sale, I will, and take the cheap accessories it comes with and bundle them with this toy, and sell it on CL. Still nice and shiny, so I should be able to get most of my $ back out of it.
I do also have a many-years-old Cambell-Hausfield 12v compressor, pretty much like OP described, with a fingernail-buster of a plastic latch on the end. Slow, but seems reliable, and it is portable. It folds up small, so worth keeping in trunk on road trips.
I miss free air at gas stations, plumbed from a big comressor so you could get more than 30 pounds in a tire. These coin-op buzz-boxes they have now are useless junk. That is why I broke down and bought my own setup. These damn aluminum rims on the car need topping off at least once a month.
Scenario- a tradesman just starting out with a vanilla pickup, not a service body, who has to load and unload all his tools twice a day, because SWMBO's car is in the garage along with all the spare tools, and he has to park outside.
Yeah, it probably doesn't happen often, but I'm sure it HAS happened.
Define "framing". Number 16 box nails through 40 ft of hose? Still, those nailers work only every few seconds, at most. An impact wrench running long enough to take off a commercial tire shop's impacted lugnut is quite another thing. Gotta have the pressure AND the CFM.
How cool are air tools? I change out a water pump, including removal of front grill and radiator, and had it all buttoned back up within 40 mins! Admittedly, a '74 Dodge van is the easiest vehicle on earth to work on, but it woulda been a 2-3 hr job without air. A 3/8" drive butterfly impact wrench is a joy to hold and use! ;)
It's all relative to the tool. Nailers do not run wide open for 5-30 secs. Therefor, do not need CONTINUOUS air. Mechanics tools, like impact, ratchet, chisel, drill, do run for extended periods of time. That's why constuction ppl use portable systems that look like two Paris Hilton SCUBA tanks on a handtruck and max out 5 CFM. Tire shops driving 1/2"-3/4" impact wrenches use 15-20 CFM compressors w/ 150-200 gal tanks.
Simple physics, really. Try pumping up a car tire with a 10 speed bicycle pump. You'll go blind or die of old age before you get 1 PSI in that tire! ;)
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