Air compressor reccomendations?

[scrubs]

I'm looking to buy an air compressor so I can pressure test my engine thanks to Drillam kindly lending me his tester.
So I need something that regulates down to approx 6psi. I figured for the jump in price I may as well buy one that
I could use for other stuff, such as the odd bit of spray painting, sand blasting, angle grinding etc...

I have swotted up a little bit on google regarding CFM etc and have a loose idea now as to a few of the terms.
Can anyone reccomend me a decent one for approx £200 or am I asking for too much at that price to run the
tools mentioned? I obviously won't be hammering it and don't mind waiting for it to fill back up if it doesent take
ages. Just a bit overwhelmed with choice at the moment and not sure which I should be going for.

My only requirements are it can run on standard 13amp outlets - one that is fairly quiet would be a bonus.

[fallenmikethebike]

Do you need a compressor?, i haven't seen the testing kit, but if you only need to achieve 6 psi, would a foot pump not suffice, sorry if that's a real dumb ass, observation.
Mike

[fallenmikethebike]

Just a thought, one of those really cheap, boot of the car comps, would give a constant pressure, though , a little tricky to regulate, i use one as an air line, from time to time.
Mike

[scrubs]

Hi Mike, well I did wonder about the foot pump... but not sure about the schrader connection will fit.
Will definitely give it a shot though!

Looked at some of the smaller compressors but like you say they seem pretty difficult to regulate
and most I have seen start at a minimum of 30 PSI. I only thought about a bigger unit thinking
I would perhaps find use for it in other areas when I had finished using it for the leak test.

[Jonorow]

i dont know if using a spare wheel as an air reservoir would help?, i have a brake bleeding kit that works by forcing brake fluid under pressure through the system like this. if you need to pressurize the crankcase then this might be of use?

[scrubs]

Cheers Jon! I'll see if I can rig something out of a foot pump in the mean time and let you know how I get on.

[drillam]

Scrubs
From experience I'd go for the largest CFM capacity compressor you can afford. Don't be fooled into thinking that a larger tank will be a substitute for a good air supply, they're two different things.
Obviously painting and such like doesn't need much air and a small one would do that OK.
I have a V twin thingy with a 50 litre tank, think it's 3hp. It handles tools like an impact hammer, extremely handy for removing things like clutch centre nuts without having to lock the engine if you forgot to loosen it before you took it off the bike, don't ask!
If you can i'd try and hear it running first coz mine is extrememly noisey. Someone told me that the direct drive ones are like that whereas the belt drive are quieter but I don't know, anyway try to find out it's decibel rating first.
Airline is probably the most useful thing for blowing through shite and swarf and suchlike. However it struggles with tools which need a constant supply of air like those small disc type cutting tools.
I built a shot blast cabinet mostly for cleaning up ally casings and stuff with glass bead, it just about handles that but is not powerfull enough for grit or sand blasting.
The tyre pump type tool is also very handy, and there's a spray gun kinda thing with a long nozzle which is good for spraying Gunk into crooks'n'nannies.

HTH