My Compressor

Here is the compressor I got. It works my air-tools:

The compressor is what would be described as a "3HP belt-drive portable air compressor". This is a bit of a mouthful, but anyway, it represents a very useful class of compressor. It is on wheels and can be moved around. It is powerful enough to do useful work. And with a slower-revving oil-lubricated compressor belt-driven from a standard commercial induction motor, it is of a category normally regarded as durable enough for serious work.

A "3HP portable air compressor" will give about 7 c.f.m. at 90 p.s.i. F.A.D.. (cubic feet of air per minute - that is the volume of air per miunte pumped by the compressor, but considered in volume as that quantity of air expanded back to atmospheric pressure). An "industrial" fixed (non-portable) air compressor will have a bigger-framed motor, even though it is also rated at "3HP", which largely accounts for the fact that these will typically pump 10 c.f.m. of air at 90p.s.i., by the way...

With a compressor of this type you can run a plasma cutter continuously and you can run air tools intermittently - but as much as someone not on a production line will ever need. For instance, if you are running a pneumatic angle grinder, you will be grinding a bit here and a bit there and the compressor will be able to catch up between usages.



(Richard Smith, June 2005)