Portable tank for compressed air?

[Ed62]

I see HF has their 18 gauge nailer on sale for $17.99 again. I have an air compressor in the garage, but my shop is in my basement. It's probably not worth lugging that thing to the basement unless I have a ton of brads to shoot. The other option is to take the work pieces to the compressor, which doesn't work well either. I'm thinking about one of those portable tanks for compressed air, that I can refill in the garage, then leave it in the basement for use. Will that work well? How large a tank would I need to shoot a reasonable amount of brads?

Ed

[cabinetman]

What you could do is get a long length of air hose.

I've got a 5 gal, and a 10 gal. Each came with a fixed length of hose (about 3') with a tire chuck, that was not on a quick disconnect, either on the tank end or the chuck end. They both came with only a tank pressure gauge, not a regulator.

I just used mine to adjust air pressure in my tires at the race track. To use it with an air tool, you should remove the gauge and fitting and mount a regulator in addition to a tank pressure gauge. Most of those tanks can pressurize to 125 PSI, and that's too high for a brad nailer or stapler.
.

[Uncle Cracker]

I have a 10-gallon tank, to which I added a regulator, quick-coupler and 10' hose. I use it to power a brad nailer when I go off-site for small jobs (cuz my 220V 7.5hp compressor ain't that portable). It will do quite a few brad nails before it craps out. It will also fill a tire, and power much fewer reps on a finish nailer. It will not help much with a die grinder, or any of the other high-cfm tools. It will also not hold a charge at rest for more than a couple days, as the quick-coupler and the regulator have small air leaks.

So, if the brad nailer is all you're gonna use it for, it should work... for a while... but you can expect to have to fill it before each and every use, and maybe refill it on big jobs.

Is there anything keeping you from piping air down to your basement from your garage?

[Daryl]

Maybe you could get a small portable compressor. I use a 3/4 horse CH compressor with out a tank with a pin nailer. Works fine.

[Ed62]

Thanks for the replies. A lot of good info.

Is there anything keeping you from piping air down to your basement from your garage?

My garage is detached, so to do it properly would take a little more work than I'm willing to do. I'd just buy another compressor before I'd do that. But I do appreciate your post, and the information was very helpful.

Ed

[JimD]

I use a 5 gallon tank when I need to drive nails outside my shop. Works fine for what I do. To fill it quickly, I made a male to male connector so I can hook the coiled up hose on the portable tank to the regular hose on my compressor. It fills quickly this way but I loose a little disconnecting the two hoses from each other. Filling through the tire type connector was way too slow for me.

Jim

[jhart]

I have two of the PC type compressors, one in my basement shop and one on my detached garage. Ended up getting the 2nd one just about for free as I bought the PC 3 gun/compressor when I found it on sale at HD and the a $40 rebate on online. Sold off the guns as I already had one of each and ended up with a cost for the compressor of about $40.
I also use the garage one over a my apartment from time to time, and quite frankly, lugging it up to the third floor (two of the buildings) kept me from using it at times. Guess I'm getting old!! Last Christmas, LOML got me a JacPac and it works wonderful for that purpose where I just need a few shots or where I don't have electricity. The JacPac wasn't cheap (about $100), but I have used it about 10 times so far. Even bought an sturdy extra belt so can wear it on my hip. Lowes has something similar to the JacPac under a different name, for slightly lower price. You can refill the tank (10 oz.) at most paintball or some sporting goods stores for about $2-3, or you can also buy extra tanks to keep one on hand.

[SHADOWFOX]

Hi Ed,

You might want to look at the Palmgren Tankless Cordless Shoulder Strap Compressor.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00068U8BM

I bought one when Amazon dropped the price down to $30.00 but I have yet to take it out of the box. Seems to have good reviews from the people who previously bought it.

Hope this helped.

[Ed62]

Too many options. Actually, I've been wondering about those listed by Joe and Chris. Thanks.

Ed

[scmhogg]

Ed,

I bought the Palmgren and I love it. It has made me use my brad nailer and pinner much more often.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...light=palmgren

Steve

[Ed62]

Ed,

I bought the Palmgren and I love it. It has made me use my brad nailer and pinner much more often.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...light=palmgren

Steve

That's good to know. Amazon dot com was having much reduced prices on Palmgren tools a while ago. I bought a disc/belt sander that I love. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on the sales.

Ed