Sand Blasting??

[Erics350x]

I want to get an afordable sand blaster to do my frame and several other parts. Any recommendations? Anyone know anything about sand blasting with a pressure washer? What type of blaster should i get? What grade of blasting material should i use?

I had one of those cheap Campbell Housfeld blasters awhile back and used Play Sand and it wasn't worth the trouble, POS.

[brapp]

if your gonan get one get an actual blast cabinet or a pressur epot system

[dreadhed]

Really your compressor is the most important part of the blasting setup. If your compressor couldn't keep up with a cheap unit then it pry won't keep up with a bigger blaster. Don't use sand it's really bad for you. Coal slag is cheap.

[Dirtcrasher]

Eric, I agree with Dreadhed that the compressor is the biggest influence on performance. Even a quick recovery compressor with a huge storage tank works well for the stuff we do. But, any standard 300$ compressor will work but can be very time consuming...

Anyhow, I've tried a few different blasters and I'll share my experiences.

1st one I tried was a small siphon blaster with a pot. It worked very well and you could concentrate on a small area and watch the paint/rust disappear. But, the pot ran out fast and I removed the pot, put a 5' hose on the inlet and just used my left hand to work the siphon action from a 5 gallon bucket of Silica Sand. It was time consuming and uses TONS of air but it worked very well, clogs were fixed quick and you could concentrate on one area and not waste a ton of sand.

Next up is the 60lb pressure blaster from Harbor Freight. Pain in the arse to fill it up and you can eat up that whole pot in about 2 minutes. Of course you can do a ton of blasting in that period but it blasts so fast that you can barely watch and see what your trying to blast. The sand goes absolutely everywhere and you run through bags very quickly. For me, I found the 5/32 nozzle and #0 sand worked the best. The 00 sand (very fine) worked great but it's so fine that it clears that whole pot in about 1 minute of non stop blasting. BUT, even one friggen foreign object any size clogs the dam thing!!!!!! Then you have to remove the air, lose whatever pressure you had stored in the pot and begin the process of removing hoses, pipes and fittings until you find the obstruction. It tends to really piss me off when it gets clogged as you lose all your air and plenty of sand! This type uses a TON of air and sand very fast and you can't really see what your doing with all the dust around the working area. EDOG was the one that advised me to put a big tarp down to try and recycle the sand which helped - but then you get the clogging. Another problem is that if it's windy at all outside, aforementioned tarp blows around everywhere and leaves and other crap blow onto your tarp, contaminate your sand and your back to dicken with it again!! It also wears out the thin nozzles within hours of use and it seems like a good used nozzle doesn't clog too much, but a brand new ceramic nozzle clogs and can drive you nuts!

Last is the cabinet blaster. I bought the biggest one I could get for a few hundred bucks and Harbor Freight has either the same one or similar to mine on sale for about 200$. It has a light inside and I put it on wheels so it would be easy to roll. You have to hook up a vacuum to it when blasting and turn off all lights (sun included) and just use the internal lamp so you can see what your doing. Because it is self contained, no foreign objects get inside and clogs don't happen often, and the dust stays in the cabinet so you don't breath it. It also doesn't have the huge pressure blow off like the pressure pot has so you can see what your working on. The sand lasts allot of blastings before you have to replace it as it gets "dull" so to speak...... The negatives with the cabinet are mostly size limitations (I got a big cabinet that a swinger will fit in etc etc) and that the window you view through MUST be taken care of. There are plastic covers with double sided tape that protect it but they are a pain to remove and install correctly (with no wrinkles or openings for the sand to invade) I find that protective cover lasts me about a hour or so depending on the size of the part to be blasted. Small parts help off to the corner and blasted don't dull or scratch the cover too quick. Obviously, you try not to point to or make the sand rebound towards the viewing glass. If you scratch that glass or plexiglass (whatever it is) the thing is useless until you replace it. I ordered 30 extra plastic protecting films. The ceramic nozzles on this type of blaster seem to last quite awhile and are fairly forgiving. Your are just limited to the size of parts that fit inside.

The silica sand is bad news in terms of health, but in the cabinet with the vacuum running, there is little to no dust and the stuff lasts! I bought "Black Beauty" a black coal like material but it was about 12$ a bag and at the time I only had the pressure blaster so it wasted the stuff FAST! I never bought it again.... I'm told that Home Depot play sand works well and there isn't a health hazard with that stuff. I also tried the glass beads and they were useless. I blasted the 200X cases with Silica sand and they came out great after powdercoating. The glass beads had no balls and the flat satin black PC ends up on the motor and shows no damage from blasting with sand or other slightly coarse materials. Some people feel that the fine beads make the finish nicer. My trikes are ALL riders no matter how nice they are but believe me, the motor looks GREAT and didn't look porous or anything else from using sand on it......

So, if it were up to me - I'd get both a pressure blaster for outside big nasty stuff and try to think of a way to reuse the media and I'd get the biggest cabinet blaster I could fit with lots of extra protector films... I'd also either buy a 1000$ dual stage compressor or just get larger storage tanks for the air with a quick recovery unit. I find my 6HP Craftsman with a 30 gallon tank works well but it's not enough. If that compressor keeps running and running your just beating the snot out of it! DEEPA (god love him..) ran mine for a couple of hours and smoked the piston, cylinder and ring. It was a well worn in unit and I never placed the blame on him entirely but now we just let it cool off every so often if we hear it run and run and run!!!! Craftsman stuff is all CHEAP and not meant for continuous use especially in the hot and humid summer heat, but you can get excellent results and keep it running by drain the tank of moisture and letting it cool off once in awhile. We'll just add it to the "Motors DEEPA blew up list"

You also need a nice water separator and I find that at the end of the hose, just before your sandblaster, seems to pick up the most water. I think as the air cools through the hose it condenses and releases moisture. When I had the water seperator right at the outlet of the tank, it barely trapped any of the moisture.......

I blasted EVERYTHING for my 20 day 86 200X build and was psyched to have that cabinet blaster, THen another 70$ and I had a Powder coating gun, another 100$ in powder and tape etc etc and I got some fantastic results. I blasted, wiped with acetone and used a modified (FREE!!) Craigslist electric oven to powder coat and I was extremely happy with my results - and thats saying ALLOT for a picky A$$HOLE like ME!!

[edog]

I have a 1 1/2 horse power Emglo running on 220 volts. I run a constant 80 psi all day with it. The key to this is VOLUME. I used to have an intercooler on it. It got damaged.

[honda_atc200es]

dang, now thats a compressor, makes my unit look like a pancake compressor

[Dirtcrasher]

I have a 1 1/2 horse power Emglo running on 220 volts. I run a constant 80 psi all day with it. The key to this is VOLUME. I used to have an intercooler on it. It got damaged.

How did your intercooler work???

That's a quick recovery "roofing/nail gun" type compressor. I bet it isn't a high HP unit but with those storage tanks I'm certain it works sweet!

I've got to find some safe storage tanks for mine or just dump the Crapsman and snag a dual stage compressor outside the shed...

Are your storage tanks old propane tanks??

[edog]

How did your intercooler work???

That's a quick recovery "roofing/nail gun" type compressor. I bet it isn't a high HP unit but with those storage tanks I'm certain it works sweet!

I've got to find some safe storage tanks for mine or just dump the Crapsman and snag a dual stage compressor outside the shed...

Are your storage tanks old propane tanks??

It cools the air as it is compressed. Therefor you can store more in the tanks and get less moister.


If you read my post above you will see that it has 1 1/2 horse power.

They are liquid natural gas tanks. They were gassed out.

I was going to put a vibration DAMPINER in the charge line. Maybe this weekend

[edog]

I want to get an afordable sand blaster to do my frame and several other parts. Any recommendations? Anyone know anything about sand blasting with a pressure washer? What type of blaster should i get? What grade of blasting material should i use?

I had one of those cheap Campbell Housfeld blasters awhile back and used Play Sand and it wasn't worth the trouble, POS.

So what did you get?

[Buster Brown]

Ok, I know you said a reasonable costing set up. But, as others have said, you really get what you pay for. None of the good stuff is cheap sadly. Dreadhed & Dirtcrasher have it right. Get the biggest volume compressor possible in your budget. I combined two 60gal. 5hp units together with a manifold. To lessen the H2O content on the cheap(without an expensive evaporator), run a hard line along your shop wall at least 20 ft. before installing a down tube to the floor. Then half way up from the floor put your separator, and air hose. At the bottom of this vertical run put a bleed off valve to bleed water out on occasion. Yes, PVC does work fine, but BE CAREFUL -don't whack it!
I to have purchased a lot of stuff from the "china shop" - Harbor Freight. On sale, 200 clams will get a nice cabinet. I bought two, and grafted them together. and with the extra metal left over built a pop out on the rear to make for a little less hassle, turning things around inside. I use aluminum oxide in it. Its dirty, but works well. I also have a smaller cabinet I use walnut shells for shinning up tarnished bolts an carburetors.
As far as a pressure pot goes, I first used a older worn out camping tent (dome tent) to recapture my sand. This still got old though, and I upgraded to an enclosed 5'X5' room with glass door and glassed out lighting to make life less miserable. I use silica sand in the pressure pot, but wear a respirator. Don't want silicosis of the lungs!
Sorry for the long post, but as they say a picture's worth a thousand words. I guess I have both here! Good luck!