Rolair JC10 Compressor Review
- Thread starter vwdave
- Start date
I got my JC10 delivered last week and it came in fine. Thanks Sean.
For the price I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but I have been too frustrated with the very noisy Thomas T-635HT. Even after seeing the online content of the sound level of the JC10 I was shocked when I plugged it in. I could not believe how truly quiet it is. I am also very pleased with the volume of air that this little thing can put out. It's easily twice or more of the 635HT. I use air for a lot of clean up like on the table saw, etc. at the end of the day, and this thing keeps up pretty well with a blow gun attachment. I'll give you that the welds aren't pretty, but I don't really care about that on this unit. If they charged 3 times as much for it then I would. I highly recommend this unit to anyone running nailers on a daily basis, especially indoors.
Chris...
For the price I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but I have been too frustrated with the very noisy Thomas T-635HT. Even after seeing the online content of the sound level of the JC10 I was shocked when I plugged it in. I could not believe how truly quiet it is. I am also very pleased with the volume of air that this little thing can put out. It's easily twice or more of the 635HT. I use air for a lot of clean up like on the table saw, etc. at the end of the day, and this thing keeps up pretty well with a blow gun attachment. I'll give you that the welds aren't pretty, but I don't really care about that on this unit. If they charged 3 times as much for it then I would. I highly recommend this unit to anyone running nailers on a daily basis, especially indoors.
Chris...
Jesse Cloud
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Glad to see this worked out well. Chris had a legitimate complaint, ToolNut and Rolair made it right. No one went ballistic. That's the way it should work!Chris Rosenberger said:
I just came across this thread. I bought a JC 10 last year and was/have been amazed at how well it does. I have used it for everything but woodwork (I have a NOISY Senco down in my woodshop that I use ocasionally.) It is currently resting in my open barn where I have kept previous compressors, both oil and oilless. The old compressors were oil pancake to oilless 10 gal Craftsman. Not one of them could have kept up with this little JC 10. Plus the other oilless compressors drew a few complaints from a neighbor when I forgot to shut it down after use. It seems she did not appreciate being awakened in the middle of the night. The large 10 gal that the JC 10 replaced was a real PITA as whenever it got to low pressure, (filling tires mostly) I would have to drain air from the tank to get low enough to start pumping again. If i set the presure valve high enough to fill a truck or trailer tire, the fittings at the pump would pop off before geting to anything over 45#s. This little JC 10 will keep going to fill any tre i have. I have filled my trailer tires to 60#'s in just a few minutes. Yesterday, I filled my truck tire to 50 when i noticed it was squished out nearly flat with only 5#'s presure. (Load range E on a 1/2T pickup so the tire, with no load on the truck will look full as low as 20# presure) It took me about 3 minutes to get it to 50. I have used it with my air hammer for removing and resetting lug nuts on both my equipment trailer and the truck with almost no waiting period when the presure gets too low. I would say that not one of my previous larger units would have kept up with this little monster for anything needing 60#'s or less. I have not tried any higher presures.
Dave mentioned cold starting. I had to use the JC 10 earlier in the winter to blow up one of my tractor tires. I went out in 20º cold and just flicked the switch and it was ready to go. I try to not use oilless compressors when temp is so low as I am concerned about possible damage. I usually apply heat before starting it up. This time, THE BOSS LADy was in a hurry to get her car on the road and where we park and with the amount of snow, i can only use the tractor (or, heaven forbid, the machine with armstrong power and hickory boom) I was good to go with the low tire up to full presure within five minutes. It took longer than that to get the tractor engine up to working temperature.
I am sure that any compressor built by that company will perform and perform better than the competition.
Tinker
Dave mentioned cold starting. I had to use the JC 10 earlier in the winter to blow up one of my tractor tires. I went out in 20º cold and just flicked the switch and it was ready to go. I try to not use oilless compressors when temp is so low as I am concerned about possible damage. I usually apply heat before starting it up. This time, THE BOSS LADy was in a hurry to get her car on the road and where we park and with the amount of snow, i can only use the tractor (or, heaven forbid, the machine with armstrong power and hickory boom) I was good to go with the low tire up to full presure within five minutes. It took longer than that to get the tractor engine up to working temperature.
I am sure that any compressor built by that company will perform and perform better than the competition.
Tinker
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- Mar 26, 2009
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Tinker said:
Wow, what a review Tinker.
We've been highlighting these compressors for some in store promos the last few weeks at $199, for all you locals. Folks are BLOWN away by how quiet it is and how quickly it recycles. We love this damn unit. So many out there and it's so so reliable.
E
ericbuggeln
Guest
Sean, ever since I heard the JC10 at your shop, I have been treating my PC pancake really poorly. I'm doing everything I can to finish this thing off, but it won't die. I always have to leave the area or alert HOs that I'm doing something so I don't scare them. Eric
ericbuggeln said:
Eric, With that JC 10, you can do all of your nailing and be all cleaned up and moving off the job before the customer will know you have been there. It's so quiet, you will have to close all windows and doors to shut out all of the noise from other rooms and outside just so you will know it is running. [thumbs up]
i have a Senco that I use in the house just so THE BOSS knows I am working. :
I did have a real big problem with Rolair last summer. I keep it in my barn that has no door, so it is exposed to temp/humidity problems, but not rain and snow. i had not used it for a month or so. When I started it up, i had my tractor idling about thirty feet away while i jacked up my trailer to change a tire. I was only a few feet away from the compressor and could not hear it running. I knew how quiet it is so i gave it no thought that I could not hear it. When i finally moved away from the trailer and went to roll out the air hose, i realized the compressor was pumping merrily away and the safety valve was hissing and making more nose than the compressor. I pushed on that tiny little ball in top of the air valve and it still kept hissing. I repeated a couple of times with no success. Finally, shut the machine off and inserted about two drops of WD-40 into the valve. Voila! Silence!
Do you think i should return the JC 10 after such a great inconvenience? [scared]
Answer: [scratch chin] Ain't no way
Now, even tho it is an "oilless" compressor, i just insert a drop of WD 40 into the valve every time the compressor has been doing nothing but soaking up humidity for two or three weeks.
My old Craftsman compressor, when it hissed, it was because a fitting had blown off at about 40 lbs pressure.
I put 60#s into my trailer tires and 50# into my truck tires with the JC 10. I have no problem torqueing the lugs onto any of my equipment. When I put the torque wrench on, the first time t used the Rolair, I had to back off so i could then get the proper settings.
Tinker
Ken Nagrod said:
Ken, could you explain this further, I'm unclear about what you mean? Are you saying that the JC10 needed some tweaking to make it more suitable for use or a different unit? And if this change is being made by the manufacturer at production level, was there any indication of when that would be in place? I might have misread what you're stating so I might have misstated what you said and that is NOT intentional.
I wanted to run more pressure then the jc10 was filling the tank, I can't remember what the stock filling pressure was. But rolair did change the pressure setting on the jc10. The only reason I adjusted the pressure was to run a framing nailer and get a few more shots before the compressor needed to turn on.
Adjusting the pressure in a compressor can be vey dangerous, I only did it with the support of rolair directly to the new pressure settings that the current jc10 model runs at. Adding too much pressure to a compressor higher then what the compressor is rated for could result in failure or injury.
The way the jc10 comes out of the box is perfect in my eyes. Many people have bought the jc10 after this review and I haven't heard any negative news about it.
Dave
Adjusting the pressure in a compressor can be vey dangerous, I only did it with the support of rolair directly to the new pressure settings that the current jc10 model runs at. Adding too much pressure to a compressor higher then what the compressor is rated for could result in failure or injury.
The way the jc10 comes out of the box is perfect in my eyes. Many people have bought the jc10 after this review and I haven't heard any negative news about it.
Dave
builderbob
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Ta2ude said:
I don't think that the JC10 is going to suit you well for roofing running the compressor at a continuous duty.
I don't know which Rolair compressor would suit you best...I purchased a Thomas compressor 5 or so years ago that is capable of running at 100% continuous duty. I still have that compressor to this dy and it runs like a champ!
I purchased the JC10 to run trim nailers...only off of one hose.
Bob
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Ta2ude said:
Definitely not. It has a capable motor and certainly is up to the task of long continuous run time but you are NOT purchasing the right compressor if you're grabbing this puppy for roofing, framing, etc. There are other Rolairs up to the task, or Emglos, etc. FYI, the new Emglo from DeWalt is redesigned to emulate the old, tried and true very popular Emglo of bygone years. Check it out.
Sean Ackerman said:
Thanks for the reply. I actually do flooring not roofing, I guess I just used that scenario as a reference that more people might be familiar with. I found this information on the Primatech site which matches my demands. http://www.primatech.ca/support/air.htm
There are 3 things I liked about the JLC10...1) lower amperage draw..it is sometimes difficult to find a circuit that will run my compressor
2) light weight 3) it is very quiet. Right now I am running a twin tank Ridgid compressor and it is very noisy. It is about 3 years now old and getting a little tired . It stays in my trailer and in the winter takes a while before it will start. It's always the first thing in the house and I set it on a register right away but it is still tempermental when cold. I realize cold starts are hard on the compressor but I don't have much choice. I am not well educated on compressors though so maybe some recomendations can be made by those that are. Thanks again.
Dave Reinhold said:
Ok, that makes it clearer. BTW, your vid came at just the right time and this appears to fit my small-shop need so I've got one on order now. Who says these videos are free...they are really starting to get add up in cost the more I watch these. [eek]
festooltim
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Just received my JC 10 tonight from FedEx. Man this thing is quiet. Was a little worried when I found a small screw and washer in bottom of box. It fell out of the electrical cover on bottom put it back in and all is good. The drain cock seems to be a little flimsy or could be damaged easily. Just started to trim on big room addition where homeowner is home in morning with a 2 year old who likes to sleep. So I think the little girl will appreciate the quiet compressor.
