Jeffrey,
Thanks for the advice. Maybe I'm a little too tentative on my expectations for the Gast. If I install a 5-gallon resevoir tank on it and if it cycles like the venturi system, it might turn on for about 5 seconds every minute or so.

The venturi system draws against the compressor's air resevoir, so the air compressor only cycles about every five minutes or so. That's when I'm cutting plaques from MDF - which take just over one minute each. When I cut plastic or other material that doesn't leak vacuum like MDF, the compressor almost never cycles.