Compressor and Air Tools

[dxlusby84]

Greetings Builders,

As I consider tooling for what will likely be a Waiex-B build, the subject of compressors and air tools comes up. Now, I have a decent grasp of the interplay between CFM @ PSI, capacity, and tool needs, but more education and opinions would help! What are people using for their compressors? What's the hungriest tool you use? Understanding there are horror stories and glory stories, how much real difference is there, on average, between brands of air tools (Ingersoll Rand, Sioux, Harbor Freight, Aircraft Tool Supply, etc.)?

I haven't any deep preferences on my air tools yet, but I'm looking at two DeWalts right now - both 1.6hp, 200 psi, 5.1 CFM @ 90psi, one holding 4.5 gallons in a small form factor, the other a standing compressor holding 15 gallons

Any and all input appreciated!
-Devin

[wlarson861]

If you plan to use an air drill you will need the larger compressor at minimum. If you are only using the compressor to drive the rivet puller then a 5 gal is plenty. I used a 10 gal upright from Walmart for drilling. It would not keep up with constant drilling without having to recharge and I would have to wait for it to catch up, especially when Up sizing.

[kmacht]

I know there are people that swear by their air drills but I did almost all of my scratch build using a cordless drill. It was just much easier to plug in the battery than it was to hook up the compressor and have a hose dragging around behind the drill all the time. The only thing I used my compressor for during the built was the pneumatic riveter from harbor freight. Best $39 I ever spent. Even the smallest air compressor will run it.

With that being said, if you think you will use the compressor for anything other than building the plane it is always best to buy the one with the most CFM and biggest tank that you can afford. Things like spray guns, grinders, sanders, impact guns, etc become very handy to have if you do any work on cars and they require a lot of CFM. I also recommend buying one with a oiled compressor. The oil less compressors are usually cheaper but they are extremely noisy and usually have a lower duty cycle. If you want portability you can always buy a small inexpensive tank to fill with the big compressor and carry around. I do that with a lot of house projects where I need to use a finish nailer. They use very little air and go a long time before needing to re-fil the tank when working.

Finally, check craigslist. I bought a 2 stage, 5hp, 16 cfm compressor for $200 off there. It was so cheap because it was 220volts and the guy was moving and didn't want to take it with him. I personally wouldn't go for either of the two you have listed. They are both oil less. In your price range I would look at something similar to this one:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Campbell-Hausf ... 1000128193

Keith
#554

[jowens]

I *REALLY* like my pneumatic cleco installation tool. Uses almost no air but a dual outlet compressor would be nice. I just use two compressors, one for the rivet gun, the other for the cleco setter/puller.

[Bryan Cotton]

I'm a fan of cordless drills. I only use my air drill when I need it for its small size.

[NWade]

Devin -

You are about to hear a common refrain; so let me be the first to start the chorus: Get the biggest air-compressor (tank-wise) that you can. :D

I have a 26-gal upright Craftsman that I bought about 7 years ago on sale. It comes on at about 110 psi and cuts off between 140 and 150 psi. If I'm using an air drill (at 90-100 psi) then the compressor will come back on every 15-20 holes that I drill. Unless you have a separate shed/room you can put the compressor in, you will come to be annoyed at the compressor running all the time. Even with short bursts of drill noise or rivet-puller puffsyou can still hear the radio (or your music-playing device of choice) when you have hearing protection on. But once most modern compressors kick on, their continuous racket drowns out anything else for many minutes at a time.

Air drills really suck down your tank - much more than anything else you'll use when building a Sonex. For thin materials you can get away with using a cordless drill if its powerful and you use sharp drill bits. But thicker materials really benefit from a fast-turning drill. You'll find you get much better holes & results from an air-drill on anything that's major structure. RPMs are much slower on a corded or cordless drill, and high RPMs + moderate pressure are what give the best results with a soft metal like Aluminum. They also leave less of a bur to get rid of (and trust me, you will be tired of deburring holes by the time you complete your project!!)

IMHO, there are essentially 4 tiers of air drills: Super-cheap crap, Cheap-but-usable, Somewhat expensive and nice, VERY expensive and slightly nicer. Skip the lowest tier. The price difference between the bottom two tiers is maybe $20 or so. You can get "tier 2" drills from various supply shops for around $50 - $60. That's where I started, and it worked OK for me for awhile. Then I saw a sale on the 4000 RPM ATS Pro Palm Drill (https://www.aircraft-tool.com/shop/deta ... D=ATS61101). It was double the cost of my original drills, but I was getting tired of my bigger air drills and thought the ATS might be a little lighter and fit in some slightly tighter spaces - so I took the plunge. WOW, what a difference! I have since bought another one, because I like them so much. I literally have never used my original air-drills since I switched. The palm drills are definitely more maneuverable and spin faster; but the biggest benefit is their light weight! A heavier drill really makes it harder to keep your drill bit in proper alignment with the parts (especially as you start working on big assemblies and aren't drilling straight down all the time). The light weight also saves a bunch on hand fatigue over time. Finally, I find that the "palm" term is accurate - I often now drill with my middle finger on the trigger, so the heel of my hand can slide up on the drill grip and press straight along the axis of the drill bit (rather than pressing with my hand down low on the grip, which can make the drill want to cock at an angle, especially when the bit breaks through to the far side of a piece and the resistance suddenly changes). I've handled (but never used) a Sioux or other $300 - $400 drill. They felt really nice, but honestly they didn't feel like 3x or 4x better than the ATS palm drill.

BTW: Why two drills? Well, its often handy to have a short drill bit and a long drill bit of the same type chucked up and ready to go; or to have a #40 and a #30 chucked up at the same time to make it easy to switch back and forth (or if you are lucky enough to have an assistant and 2 air hoses, one of you does the #40s while the other person follows behind and does the #30 holes - but be sure your compressor can keep up).

For most other tools you can go with simple & cheap - my Harbor Freight riveter is still going strong after 6 years; although you have to tweak it and then lock the adjustable components very tightly to stop it from annoyingly and frequently falling out of adjustment.

I hope this info helps, and feel free to ask if you have further questions or want clarification on anything!

--Noel Wade
Sonex #1339
TD, Center-Stick, Acro-Ailerons, Turbo AeroVee, Flush pulled rivets
Wings & Empennage complete, Fuselage nearing completion

P.S. I see that others are starting to talk cordless drills. While you can use them, do understand that the weight and size of a cordless drill can be fatiguing and/or a hindrance. They also lose RPMs as you use up charge with each hole you drill, so be prepared to invest in a couple of spare batteries! As I said above, I use my cordless drill for thin materials and when I only need to drill a couple of holes in a part. But for thick items or anything with a lot of holes (such as skins), a compact air drill is a much faster & nicer solution!

[samiam]

Two words: Cordless drill.

I really wanted to use an air drill because of the cool factor, but they are VERY noisy and require air hoses. They are also very expensive if you get an adequate sized compressor as well. I have been using this drill for the build:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Bosch-12-Volt- ... se/3185363

Small, light. Batteries last forever and charge quickly. Save your money for good drill bits, and change them often, as that is much more important than the extra RPM you get from an air drill.

[ldmill]

Completely agree on the cordless drill. I built my entire Waiex in my basement- much of it after 8:00pm when the wife and kids were heading off to bed. Th air drill is loud, and running the air compressor is loud. My Bosch drill is quiet and lasted the entire project over 5 years. Came with 2 batteries and was the tool I used probably the most (outside of my deburring tools). I tried the air drill several times but found I never really needed it. My air drill wasn't variable speed like my cordless drill is - that's also something you need - variable speed...
Lorin

[wlarson861]

95% of my build was done with a small lightweight pneumatic palm drill. Using a corded or cordless is quite a bit slower than the air drill, but still doable. However when drilling a lot of holes in succession with a cordless drill, my wrist would feel the pain of the weight of the heavy drill. I also agree that sharp bits are as important as anything in getting good results, a drill bit sharpener should be high on the tool list. I also recommend cobalt bits, I found packages of a dozen #30 and #40 cobalt bits in the fly market at Airventure, they seem to hold an edge forever drilling aluminum and are required to drill the stainless firewall.

[peter anson]

I also used a cordless drill for much of the build. In fact the only air drill I used was a small right-angle drill, and that got lots of use. Not one with a key chuck, the type with either collet chuck or one that takes the 1/4" threaded drills.

Peter