Just to chime in quickly, I purchased the same 60gal Kobalt this past summer for my hypertherm 45. The air compressor itself is great. My wife was complaining she was baby sitting it due to having to pause the cuts or we would get jagged edges while it ran. I maybe can reduce the air pressure down but I wanted to find something else to either run in parallel with or replace the kobalt.
I just got a used Emglo 80gal 3hp made by Jenny that a guy was selling for $400. I think its a 4 cylinder with 18cfm at 175.
I also had picked up a kobalt 80 5hp compressor w/o motor for $200 that I was going to just add a motor to.
My opinion for what it’s worth is the kobalt 60 is fine to start with and then just get another to tie together down the road. If you’re ok buying something used or replacing a few parts, there are tons of deals out there (at least in my area) where you won’t be under powered at all.
I will say I feel like I should’ve earned some type of degree as I’ve researched and learned about all the little intricacies of air compressors.
Sounds like it does NOT deliver 11ish CFM @90 PSI…
@TomWS, I should mention I do run closer to 115 PSI for my cuts. We did smaller cuts initially so I don’t know if I noticed how it ran at 90 psi, but I get much better cuts with the increased PSI with the trade off of having to be patient with that unit.
Or maybe a supplier changed out the compressor head unit? But it clearly says the pump model number is the same on both labels. The tanks and motors are pretty generic parts wise…it’s interesting, for sure. At least now we have some actual info to go on. Mystery deepens.
I’m pretty sure they used to have a single stage, two cylinder, 60G that probably did meet the 11.xx CFM specs (I think I had been considering it in my initial research for my compressor - I almost bought a used one but it was sold before I got to it) and, when they made the two stage version they just copied the specs even though a two stage with the same primary cylinder size would never be able to deliver that volume. Somewhere along the line, someone discovered this little detail and now we have the correct, albeit anemic, specifications.
Well it looks like the photo shoot is off, ok because I didn’t want to objectify or shame anyway.
I think I may go with this Quincy, on sale for 4 more days at this price.
Quincy 60 Gal Comes to $850 to my door (driveway with a lift gate truck).
One reason being if I buy the service kit for around $90 the warranty extends to 2 years, more importantly there is a Quincy Direct service center within 30-40 miles of where I live. It has decent specs and a little better reputation than the competition is this price range.
I was surprised that Northern Tool has some pretty bad overall ratings about their company/website considering they have a huge retail presence as well as online sales. This company, Air Compressors Direct has a good Google Rating for what that’s worth.
The Quincy compressors run a lower rpm and reduced noise levels from what I’ve read.
At some point you have to stop looking and buy something, right? The Quincy has a 10,000 hour pump life rating while the Kobalt, IR and others, if you can even find the specs are 1,500-2000 or maybe 5,000 at best. No guarantee’s on any of that I know so maybe it’s a feel good thing for me right now.
Well, I just got back. Needed to make sure I wasn’t losing it 
(and pick up a few things anyway). The one I remember was still there in the store I frequent…it’s shows 11@90. I almost bought this - it looks like a decent compressor to me - don’t think it’s a bad deal for the price. This motor and compressor head is clearly CampbellHausfield, who has been making air compressors forever. It could simply be a labelling issue or maybe there’s a different head model in the mix? It is a 2019 mfg date.
There was an 80 with a 5hp next to it:
Very similar compressor head - looks like same pump model number with bigger motor. Maybe that’s what’s going on.
ok - I’m out - mystery is solved as much as I care to know about it at this point. Best of luck!
Wow, they are all over the place on specs. This one is the same 80 gal, same model number with a cfm rating of 15.8 @ 90.
Well, amps dropped from 22 to 17. It would be crazy though for a 17 amp 230v compressor to only make 7.6 cfm. I’m thinking it’s a different motor, but is also mislabeled. Two stage should be a little more efficient and put out at last 10 cfm with that motor.
@James5 You are truely a dedicated analyst. 
Way ta go the extra mile to help a fellow out. Hope the theory is correct and it really is 11 cfm. As long as it works, cause I’m going to need it running soon. (See below)
PS. A HF rolling shop stool is definetly a back saver!
Table is looking good! 
With Back surgery 3 weeks ago, it took a month to get it out of the box… but well worth the wait. Well made product it seem like.
I’m going to call Campbell Hausfeld monday, and get to the bottom of the lable thing. I just have to know for sure what it is or it will nag me till my death bed.
Let us know what you find out! This should add to your fun tracking it down:
This is the same compressor - but with the CampbellHausfield paint job. The web page says
7.6 SCFM @ 90 PSI and 6.9 SCFM @ 175 PSI (Like lowes does)
If you look under resources and pull up the manual, it says "Air delivery at 90 psi = 11 CFM.
I think it’s actually an 11 CFM unit - I’ve got an old 33 gal oil less 120v compressor that’s rated at 6.4 cfm @ 90 - I’d be hard pressed to believe this 240v compressor is only 1.2cfm greater than my old clunker - the load / amp math doesn’t work right as @jamejia mentioned.
Paying for the name with that one, HD price is $1,072.
All the volume talk got me thinking about the difference between SCFM and CFM…
Found this artice… for what its worth…
Maybe explains some lable confusion…
" SCFM is completely known as Standard Cubic Feet / (per) Minute. It shows the gas’ volume flow rate when placed in a controlled environment: Standard temperature, standard pressure and even a standardized relative humidity. This standardization gives way to the measurement of the (mass flow rate) mass of a thing or substance that travels through a certain surface in a specific unit of time. However, it must be made known that the standards can actually vary from place to place. There is still no clear group consensus in determining what the ‘world standard’ really is. For temperature it can vary, like 68°F, 0°C, 15°C or 20°C, among others. For pressure it can be 14.73 psia, whereas others accept 14.696 psia. These variations will become more evident as you travel, let’s say from America to Europe, where you will see that U.S.A.’s temperature standard is 60 to 70° Fahrenheit and in Europe it will be 0°C. Take note, this is not always the case. These values are just the most commonly used. The result is a varying answer of volumetric flow rates. If one uses the temperature 0°C while the other computes the equation using 60°F, their answer will really be different.
The concept of CFM, or Cubic Feet / (per) Minute, is also confusing. Up to this date, there is no one overall definition that describes what a CFM really is. It is the air volume that occurs at an exact temperature or pressure.
In the simplest terms, here’s how you can picture the difference between SCFM and CFM. This is the situation: when you have an air balloon that’s one ft3, and you also happen to be situated in a warm room with a relatively high pressure; when you get out the flow rate will be about 1 CFM. However, what happens is the balloon actually expands as it adapts to the environmental condition outside, which is most likely closer to the standard rate. In this instance, the volumetric flow rate can be perceived as 3 to 4 SCFM. The two measures can be utilized interchangeably, yet it’s better to use SCFM in most types of industries because it can also tell you the values of temperature and pressure.
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CFM is Cubic Feet per Minute, while SCFM is Standard Cubic Feet per Minute.
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SCFM is the volumetric flow rate against a standard, whereas there’s no standard for CFM. "
Read more: Difference Between CFM and SCFM | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-cfm-and-scfm/#ixzz6QayHPGp9
Yes - always compare numbers with cfm@xxx psi otherwise they are not apples to apples. Anytime you see cfm@xxx psi it’s the SCFM. (temperature is implied to be room temp around 70f)
Thus spoke the optimist! Did you notice that the manual is dated 10/18? As I’ve said before, I’ll bet the newer units have corrected specs and they are no where near 11CFM.
The reason that this compressor is not capable of that volume is because it is a two stage compressor. Every revolution of the crankshaft only pushes X cubic inches of air whereas a two cylinder, single stage compressor pushes 1.3333X cubic inches of air.
Correction: I misspoke about 1.5x, it’s actually 1 1/3x, for every 1.5 revs, it pushes 2X air, so 2/1.5 = 1.3333… sorry about that.
I’m sticking with 11cfm@90psi. I’m dug in and not backing down lol! I got too much riding on this (I don’t) . My 2 stage pushes 15.2@175, but it’s a bit bigger head and runs 28 amps (5 hp) - I think it’s possible, but I’ll be interested to see how it comes out. If nothing else, intrepid compressor buyers of the future may stumble across this thread and get some good info (maybe)…
laughs… 