quietest compressor?

Can anyone tell me what the best, and most quiet compressor is? I have a condo and I don't want to annoy my neighbors. I searched, and some people mentioned certain models that were supposedly quiet... but in my experience quiet means different things to different people (I've tried a few exhausts on my real car). I want to know what models are the most quiet, or quiet enough not to annoy neighbors. I read about some Automist 2000 but it looks like the manufacture's website is down (www.automist2000.com). My budget is around $200 max.

I suggest renting/purchasing a CO2 tank.

I haven't used this, but I have been told this is a decent airbrush compressor and is the quitest you can find. Micromark is a good vendor too, I have purchased from them many times.

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=81748

LOL! You said queit and Compressor in the same sentence.
Mike has a great idea there

LOL! You said queit and Compressor in the same sentence.
Mike has a great idea there

There are several type of home owner compressors.
Direct drive (cover your ears)
Old fashioned cast iron oil lubed units. Much quieter.
And in fact there are many manufacturers of quiet compressors built around the refrigerator compressor. They are about as noisy as your ice box and supply ore than enough air for airbrushing. Silentair is one manufacturer and the name reallly does say it all.

LOL at Dag65 for being silly! :)

I have a Badger (Billion-Air 480-2's older model) model and it makes VERY little to almost NO noise (only a ppsshhttt when the tank fills and the upper limit is reached). It is based on a refrigerator compressor. I love it.
hth,

I have a Badger (Billion-Air 480-2's older model) model and it makes VERY little to almost NO noise (only a ppsshhttt when the tank fills and the upper limit is reached). It is based on a refrigerator compressor. I love it.
hth,

I have an Iwata Smart Jet and it works the exact way, its only "on" when the airbrush is being used, and very very quiet when it is "on". :sunglasse Only downside would be the 40psi max, which isnt too bad for car modeling purposes IMO.

JeFF

For the ultimate in quiet, it sounds to me like an air tank is the way to go. You can get a big one at Home Depot for $30, plus another $30 for a moisture trap and a few bucks for some fittings. If you need to fill it, the big 'garage' compressor will work fine, or even the pump at the gas station.

Scale Auto Mag said filling a 4-5 gallon tank to 100 psi should be plenty to airbrush a few models, and filling it is easy and cheap enough. I've been meaning to try one for some time, but I don't really need it: When I move I'll likely lose the luxury of a basement workshop, so I'll give one a go then.

thanks for all the suggestions. that air tank idea sounds nice and cheap enough to try out.

thats a neat way of going about it, i think u just killed two birds with one stone with that one b/c i was wondering the exact same thing, this link needs to be posted with the airbrush faqs. Great find 008

I think you could build one for half the price that is listed there. An big tank at Home Depot is about $30-40, I paid $30 for the Paasche regulator/moisture trap (Smaller PSI range on the gauge, easier to adjust), and the fittings an adapters should cost maybe $5-10.

That's not including a tire inflator, but I have one of those, and a big compressor which I would use to fill it.

Iwata Smart Jet.

No dissapointments, VERY quiet. Great performance.

http://www.reliableresin.com/tips.html

I tried this, and the tire pump just couldn't handle the abuse of running that long. I burned the pump in just 5 fills. so now I have a real compressor, with a nice expansion tank. the two tanks total 20 gallons and I can paint an entire car kit on one fill. the key to this is making sure you have NO leaks in the system.

I have used the CO2 tanks and love them!! they have no contaminants and make no noise at all when you airbrush. but you DEFINITELY need to make sure you don't have leaks in your system on this setup, as you are paying for air.

the refridgerator pump thing sounds great! I have an old fridge that gets cold but not enough to freeze things, maybe I'll try tis out. does anyone have a tutorial on this....duhh, I'll search it too.

I wouldn't suggest a tire inflator either. They do differ, so perhaps it depends on the quality of the inflator. My old saggy-sprung Firebird had air shocks and I left the tire inflator in the trunk with a cockpit switch so I could refill them as they leaked down. I had one inflator that was terribly noisy out of the box, and when it finally died I took it apart and saw that it blew a rod. I bought a newer, more expensive unit and I was impressed in how quiet it was and it was used for years until I got rid of the car.

If you have a big compressor to fill it, that pretty much defeats the purpose of the unit (and this thread) unless you want to carry the tank to a separate room where your hoses won't reach. I'd like to try it so I can at least airbrush small parts with acrylics in my model room but then I'd still have to walk out to the garage to clean the paint equipment, saving me no time. I think people with that setup would most likely elect to go to the nearest gas station to fill it up.

Here's one using a refridgerator pump but it's a bit too time consuming IMO. Unless you're really looking for whisper quietness, a ~$150 auto store compressor will put you way ahead of this contraption.
http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/compressorgi_1.htm

Without a pump it'll hard to practice. I'll bet you'll be thinking "Oh no, must not waste air" and make more mistakes because you didn't want to use up the air just to screw around.

I used a tankless D500 diaphragm compressor when I lived in an apartment, for what it's worth. The dishwasher and garbage disposal made more noise.

revell omega nice n quiet

I have been thinking about make one like this

Build Your Own Silent Air Compressor (http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial.asp?TutorialID=28&CurPage=1)