The family is thinking of going together to buy an air compressor for my brother in law as a birthday present.  He lives in an apartment, so size is a consideration.  His girlfriend has a house, but he's only there on weekends as she lives in a different town.  Anybody have a suggestion for a good one, it will be used primarily for painting planes.  Have looked at Sears and Lowes so far, not sure how good the ones from Harbor Freight are.  Any tips will be appreciated.

Also, how important are the cfm ratings for spraying with touch up guns (HVLP or standard)?

Thanks,

James

I've got a Harbor Freight compressor. Bought the $99 special at first, (2HP 8gallon, 5CFM) but it couldn't even keep up with air tools rated at 3.5CFM!!! Went back and traded up within a week to one of their $179 units with a higher constant CFM supply rating (3HP 10gallon 7.2CFM).

It is worth paying the difference, it's much smoother running & quieter. Quiet is relative of course, they are all loud to me compared to my old shop compressor which was a rotary screw compressor. It sounded about like a refrigerator, and could run an entire shop with 20people!

Do yourself a favor, run it for about an hour and change the oil. These "Cheap" compressors are a great deal for home use, but you do tend to get what you pay for. My first oil change was a little dark, and the oil is pretty clear now.

Hope that helps,

EricV