Stop in for a cup of coffee

You mean the shaft that goes into the end to pivot on? If so do not paint it.
One end goes in the bushing, the other is tapered. In the middle is a flange. I'm not planning on painting the taper.

Been there, tried that. It ended up costing as much as good big one by the time I was done.
I'm thinking used ones bought cheap. Mine is a 2 hp/6 gallons. 165 liters/minute. That's 5.8 CFM. Three of those running on separate phases should give a pretty ok CFM at least.

question, if you have a child who's never had adjustment issues or dreaded going to daycare but suddenly is throwing a fit when you drop her off at a daycare you've only been using 10 days, would you be worried?
2.5 year-olds have all kinds of phases they go thru but reading a little more of what you posted makes me think she is not being understood right.