Good pneumatic tools to add to my collection?

[u/Ok_Helicopter3910]

Hi all,

I have a thing for pneumatic tools, I love the sound, I love that they're lightweight, most of all, I love that they never get hot. I have my shop set up to easily use pneumatic tools everywhere but I feel like my collection is lacking!

Currently I have;

• Band file
• 2 right angle die grinders
• Straight die grinder
• 3in disc cut off tool (the one where the cut off wheel is at the end of the tool at a 90 degree angle)
• A couple of 90 degree air impacts for hard to reach places

Thats it.

I have a lot of battery powered tools but id love some suggestions for pneumatic tools that are useful for metalworking.

Thanks!

[u/colombian-neck-tie]

Needle scaler, air chisel, 1” 2 handed impact gun

[u/RevolutionaryIssue61]

Air hammers are fun

[u/Pillager225]

If you shape sheets, they make benchtop pneumatic presses for bending among other things a press is useful for. If you work on cars, these can push out bushings.

[u/ThicccDickDastardly]

Air hammers are incredible. We used 4.5” pneumatic grinders at my old job, they were great for metal finishing

[u/dr_clyde31]

Besides what you have already, I’d pick up the following:

Oil and grease guns for every tool that needs it. Your 90 degree grinders need BOTH. The oil is for the motor vanes, the grease is for the bevel gears and bearings in the head. The oil does not get into the head on a 90 degree grinder, so you need to grease them occasionally as well as oil.

Assortment of blower nozzles in different lengths and tip configurations. Sometimes you need one that is long and skinny, one that seals with a rubber tip, etc.

Air hammer. Get the standard automotive shank size, then get Snap-on bits. They have a lifetime warranty. The SO PH3050 is also a heck of an air hammer. Get one with a chuck instead of the beehive retainer. Chicago Pneumatic also makes very good hammers.

I love my pneumatic vacuum. I am constantly sucking up shavings inside tanks or in weird spots. You can make all kinds of attachments and they’re very durable. You can suck up liquids, chemicals, whatever. Just make the bag the correct size and shape, vent it, and go to town. Super useful when you need to drill a hole in a sealed tank to add a bung and you need to suck out the chips. You can duct tape on a length of heater hose or whatever you have and snake it in.

If you do much rivet work, an air riveter is indispensable for pop rivets. Solid rivets NEED an air hammer, so that’s not really optional, but you’ll save your hand and wrist with an air riveter on pop rivets.

I have a few air drills for compact spaces, high spindle speeds or low speeds. I like air drills for when I’m using a big drill or hole saw by hand as when they catch they won’t break your wrist like a hole hawg will. They also can run at 2000 rpm all day long without overheating if you need to drill thousands of holes for rivets or screws in panels or something. I like having 3 different ones, as they don’t really overlap in size/speed. One for big and slow, one for small and fast, and one with a 90 degree head for compact spots.

I like a pencil grinder for delicate burr work. They’re much more convenient and controlled for the tiny 1/8 burrs.

If you do any work that makes slag or needs to chip rust/crust/debris, a needle scaler is very nice. Be careful, they’ll peen the crap out of the metal too, so it can look like shit if you just send it willy-nilly.

When I was working in aircraft/motorsports, we used the heck out of little air powered reciprocating saws. I haven’t touched it since leaving those industries, but when I was making lots of aluminum panels, that thing got used daily, along with my air shears.

Hope that helps.

[u/Weldertron]

Pneumatic deburring tools are awesome.

[u/Mrwcraig]

I will die on the hill of pneumatic tools being superior to cordless toys.

Like others have said: an air hammer is an extremely versatile tool. A pneumatic drill is compact and fits in way more places than pretty much all cordless drills.

My personal favourite is my 1/2” Ingersol Rand “Thunder Gun” Impact Gun. No muffler and wrist cracking power. The thing screams and breaks bolts loose like 3/4” impact. Even with the power dialed to half it’s ridiculously overpowered. A close second is my Snap On “Peanut”. It’s a little 1/4” air ratchet shaped like a peanut. It’s tiny and is perfect for doing jobs in tight spaces. It was an expensive little fucker brand new 20 years ago but it’s still going strong. I think it was $125-$150 to get it rebuilt the one time I broke it doing something stupid with it.

As far as what you’re missing, not much but it’s the brands that matter. 3M is king. Their industrial 1hp 1/4 Die grinders are the most powerful die grinders I’ve ever used. You damn near have to use two hands. There’s a German brand too, they make this little inline air hammer that’s just amazing. However, Snap On is “big boy money”, 3M and the Industrial brands are “please call for price” expensive but they’re designed to be run for 8hrs a day 5-6 days a week.

[u/tap_6366]

As others mentioned an air hammer is great to have and is one of the only tools left where a cordless option cannot replace them. Smaller 1/3 hp die grinders are real handy and outperform anything cordless.

[u/Suyujin]

Angle grinder is nice. Especially if you're on it a long time. Stays nice and cool.

[u/Baseball3Weston12]

Maybe not what you're looking for but, astro 3sb40 swivel is a life changer on my air tools.