I have new neighbors in the next apartment who try to be quiet for me. Since at least one of them always seems to be home and my old full-sized air compressor was noisy enough to almost be heard two or three apartments away, I’m looking for a fairly quiet airbrush compressor. Can anyone recommend one that is powerful enough (30-35 pounds pressure) and fairly quiet? (I know I can get tanks filled elsewhere and bring them into the basement, but that’s not for me.)
I’m looking at the TC20 and the larger two cylinder tanked models at airbrushdepot.com and airbrushcity.com. I want a tank to keep the air from pulsing and spattering the paint. They’re rated (supposedly) at 59 decibels or so. That’s about as quiet as you’ll get unless you go for a “Silent Air(e)” style which run several hundred dollars. C02 tanks are silent and can be rented from Welding supply houses. I’m looking into that option. Apt. or Condos may not welcome a compressed gas tank though. Hope that helps.
Get yourself a Porter Cable pancake compressor from Home Depot or any other equivalent brand and build yourself a box out of extruded foam yeah the pink stuff people use for scenery large enough to slip over the compressor when you want to operated quietly. I do not recommend using it for long periods of time as your not going to get hardly any air flow around it. You can also make a box and line it with homasote. Thats one of the things it’s originally designed for, believe it or not it’s original intent was not for model railroading.
As far as air compressors go screw type are much quieter then piston type compressors but do not have as long of a life span. Most piston type compressors which last much longer are either iron or iron sleeved.
If your original compressor is small enough just try putting it in a closet when you use it when the neighbors are home.
I used a small Badger compressor for years, until it simply wore out. It was replaced with a SilentAire Scorpion which has performed flawlessly. It has a filter/trap which keep water out of the hose, a BIG plus.
Its hard for me to say what would be ideal in an apartment but I would imagine one with a large tank could solve the noise problem as a large tank with 90 ~ 110 psi in it would do most model work @ 30 or so psi and clean the gear on one or two fills. What I am saying is it wouldn’t need to run as much but then the size could be an issue in an apartment.
How about buying one with a rather large tank, taking it outside to pressurize it, then doing your painting with it unplugged? I know this may be a bit inconvenient but there should be enough air in the tank to do at least a couple of cars before having to take it back outside again.
Odie, how long have you had your compressor, how much use does it get and also wondering if you spray acrylic paints with it? Are you experiencing any pulsing of paint? Thanks.
I own a 121TK that I purchased from Airbrush City. It is extremely quiet. As their ad says, you can talk on the phone while it is running. It looks like they have replaced it with the 144AC model. It is currently on sale for $109.
jbinkely, how long have you had yours and how much use has it gotten? I’m very close to buying something and would like more feedback on airbrush depot’s compressors especially tank models like the TC20. If I knew they held up to a couple of years (anyway) of fairly constant use, I’d be willing to give one a try. Thanks.
Thanks to those of you who replied to my post. I took the advice of several of you and went to Harbor Freight and got their 93657 airbrush compressor. I tried it out for the first time today, and I’m happy with it. It is quiet and easy to use. Perhaps someday I’ll move up to a more expensive compressor, but as for now I think it makes a good compressor for a beginner.