Building a compressor...

[dannyp]

there are some genorator setups that rectify the output then turn it back into AC with an inverter

very expensive way of doing things but has efficency benifits

 

[Henrik]

How about using a modern engine with an ECU.

For example the Saab turbo lumps from 1993 onwards are cheap'ish, and the ECU is programmable, so you can set the idle speed to what you want (e.g. 1500 rpm).

The software you need for this is called T5Suite.

How would you control the start/stop of the engine, or would you leave it running all the time with a blow off valve?

 

[adamsmitqc]

I like this thread, very very interesting! I look forward to seeing some results!