Will this compressor run that tool?
Work out the pump-up time, whether the compressor keeps up with the tool, and how long the receiver lasts once it does not.
What this assumes
- Compression is treated as isothermal - as though the air stayed at one temperature. It does not: compressing air heats it, so a real pump-up takes longer than this and the receiver loses a little pressure as it cools afterwards. Read the fill time as a planning figure.
- Free air delivery is what the compressor actually puts into the tank, measured at atmospheric pressure. Displacement, which some plates quote instead, is what the pump sweeps and is a larger and less useful number.
- The run time assumes the tool is used continuously and the compressor keeps pumping throughout. Most air tools are used in bursts, so real working time is longer.
- Pipework between the receiver and the tool loses pressure of its own. The air hose calculator covers that part.
- The flow and pressure a tool needs come from its own plate or datasheet. This page does not know them for any particular tool and never supplies them.