I'm looking at investing in a compressor and basic air tools for my workshop, so I thought the collective wisdom of locostbuilders would be a good starting place.

Initially I'm expecting to make a lot of use out of impact, wrench and grinding tools, but a bit of spraying will be needed in the near future (boot & bonnet sized, not whole car (yet?!)).

I thought these two items at screwfix would do the job, I'm happy to pay upto 50% more if quality of kit improves substantially, thoughts & recommendations please:

1. Stanley 8216035SCR011 24Ltr Compressor with 5 Piece Accessory Kit 240V £100

2. Erbauer Air Tool Kit 43 Piece set (5671H) £100

Spend £150 on a 3hp compressor.

Forget any grinding tools/high consumption as a waste of time unless you have a commercial machine.

Personally I like air tools but the battery rattle guns are so good these days it's a toss up unless you want to use the air to blow up tyres, spray paint etc.

As Mark said, the minimum you'll want is a 3hp compressor with a big receiver (50litre minimum), and even then you'll spend a massive amount of time waiting for the thing to pump itself up again if you are using any serious tools. I borrowed a sealey 3hp/50l compressor during my rebuild, and I wasn't impressed. It was only just about man enough to run a rattle gun, and grinding emptied the receiver in no time.

Impact guns, die grinders and cutoff tools are some of the hungriest accessories to use. Sorry to say it, but I think you'll be pretty disappointed with a small compressor. There's a reason that commercial garages have great big 3 phase compressors with huge air receivers.....

I've had a 2hp 24lt & 3hp 50lt which just emptied straight away. I now have a SIP 3hp 100lt belt drive which is still no good for 4" grinder, but will run die grinder, drill, impact gun etc.

if you want to do anything really usefull with a compressore bigger is better, i had a 3hp 50 litre and it ran constantly with a wheel gun, you got water in spray equipment again beacause it run so much, i now have a 200 litre 3hp basically the biggest 240v i could find, its fitted in my shed and piped throughout my gargae next door, no noise and outlets each corner and i can run anything, recently sprayed a mini and it cut in three times.

Just look at what tools you would like to use. A small compressor is excellent for tools that don't use much air. Nail Guns, Powder Coating, Airbrushing, Tyre inflating, Pinning, stapling and other items that use a tiny amount of air or a 'shot' of air are okay for 50L compressors.

Anything else you just need the biggest you can afford.

Thanks for the input, I'm surprised at the size I need to run the planned tools; glad I asked before ordering.

I originally started looking at Makita 1/2" impact drivers, but thought for a few pounds more I could get a compressor set up instead. Back to plan A.