Hi, I'd like to get an air impact gun and wondering if anyone has recommendations for something cheap that we could pick up from the likes of
machine mart. Ideally id like to be able to remove suspension strut top nuts etc which usually require quite some force.
My dad has an 8 year old Wolf compressor which he bought for about £150 and we've used it for some bodywork spray jobs and have the usual cheap
accesories like tyre gun and from memory it goes up to 150-200 PSI - would that limit our choices? also will need a better quality hose than the
cheapo plastic one.
Thanks for any help
Adam
Air operated guns are very powerful, but I use a battery powered one for convenience and portability. When looking round for a gun the important
figure is Torque, higher the better.
The compressor may well make 150-200 lbs pressure, but the important figure here is Cfm. Impact guns require a high Cfm (probably 12-14) in order to
keep going. so again the higher the better.
Buy a good quality one. I have a 20yr old Ingersol Rand gun and it will still run rings around Clarke etc guns of the same size, will undo stuff the cheap guns won't touch - Same with the Chicago Pneumatic gun that I've just replaced it with. With a reputable manufacturer you can actually obtain spare parts too- I have just replaced the air valve on a CP DA sander I've had for many years
Definitely only need an air gun over a battery powered one as i work on my cars next to my garage and only do the service jobs and on the rare
occasion suspension work - at the moment replacing the top mounts on a golf.
I will check the Cfm if i can find it, as for quality i really just want a cheap gun that will do the odd tough job. I built the MNR without one so it
wont get a lot of use but undoing the odd stubborn suspension bolt on my golf would be nice.
Adam
Look for a second hand blue point ingersoll rand or CP on ebay for the same price as a new cheapy,
give it a good clean and make sure you use a good air tool oil and youll get years of use from it
You don't need an expensive one. I bought an el-cheapo from kamasa years ago and we tested out head to head against my bosses mid line snap on and the kamasa consistently beat it. My boss then traded it in four a tip of the line one which never got tested. Big thing is to keep it oiled, I use an in line oiler, and to keep it somewhere warm enough that condensation doesn't form on it on cold days. This will eventually cause the internals to rust which will then reduce the efficiency and increase the drag of the motor.
You dont need a huge compressor to run a rattle gun - all you need is a fully charged receiver , the gun may want 20 CFM , but if its any good you
will only be running it for a few seconds !
I have an Ingersol Rand one , had it for years - but if the nut/bolt is proper stubborn its not unusual to need a breaker bar and scaffold pole to
loosen........
The diameter of the air line supplying the gun from the compressor can have a massive affect (was going to say impact) on the performance of an air gun. Using one of those curly whirly 8mm air lines my gun struggles (and often fails) to undo wheel nuts done up to circa 65 to 70 ftlbs. Using a 10 mm bore hose it makes short work of hub nuts and crank pulley bolts which are tightened to 250ftibs +.
I use a sealy air gun, which is usually fine for wheel nuts ect. Anything more serious, hubs or crankshafts I
use an electric one. Never failed yet, just very heavy for constant use. The cheapy one is used to run the
nuts up then I use a torque wrench. It's just me, I don't trust air guns for tightening.
quote:
Originally posted by Brook_lands
The diameter of the air line supplying the gun from the compressor can have a massive affect (was going to say impact) on the performance of an air gun. Using one of those curly whirly 8mm air lines my gun struggles (and often fails) to undo wheel nuts done up to circa 65 to 70 ftlbs. Using a 10 mm bore hose it makes short work of hub nuts and crank pulley bolts which are tightened to 250ftibs +.
my dad was a mechanic for 40+ years he swears by cp.
Depends on how much you are going to be using it. In daily use I have a both CP and Ingersol rand, they are good tools. When my CP gun packed up the other day, in desperation I bought a £20 Aldi one and to be fair it worked ok. Not as well built but worked fine. Now fixed the CP and the Aldi is in the drawer as a spare.
Sounds like i should check out second hand cp and ingersoll.
just to add ive found the spec of my compressor
8bar 116psi
7.6cfm
50litre capacity
And a whopping 2hp!
will this be suitable?
I have had Cp and still have the blue point / snap on. Buy quality and buy once