| Author | Message | ||
| dougthebonifiedbusnut (24.147.153.205)
Rating: |
which one of you guys knows a lot about sandblasting. i bought a 30 gallon 5 horse tank. this set up was just barely enough so i bought another 60 5 horse tank thinking i would have plenty of air but it didnt make much differanceis there a good pressure i should running the gun does not seem to pick up enough sand i am using the cheep sand and am thinking of getting some black beauty as the sand makes a lot of dust i just cant put a part back back on without painting it hope someone can help | ||
| Frank Allen (66.26.215.113)
Rating: N/A |
The hp and tank size is not where its at, its cfm that matters, you need to be able to open that gun and maintain 100 lbs pressure constant, also you cant have any moisture in the air, if you do it will not work so well, and the sand needs to be clean . if all that is right it should work for you . Frank Allen | ||
| Usher (162.40.199.176) Rating: N/A |
I sell air compressors all day long. We also deal in sand blasting equipment. I can tell you that 2 5hp units are probably only going to be enough to drive only the smallest of nozzles. (ie 5/64 opening) The smaller the nozzle, the more likely a clog, especially if you are using regular sand and not the stuff graded for sandblasting. Also the moisture in the compressed air will cause bridging in the tank and will not allow the sand to flow correctly. A correctly operating sand blast system is not cheap, nor is it cheap to operate. If your sand blaster is a gravity fed system, just be prepared to have it clog and bridge every few minutes. There is just no way to stop it if you live in a moist enviroment. If you live in Az or NM you might be able to get one to run in the dry climate. | ||
| Steve Sanford (208.187.142.125)
Rating: N/A |
Why can't you use a pressure washerer and a sand adapter to water sand blast those buses? I have cleaned many things with type of blaster, works very well, won't warp thin sheet metal, and much faster than sand blasting. Has anyone tried it? Steve | ||
| Toolman (Toolman) (207.44.55.151)
Rating: N/A |
Steve, Sounds like a good alternative.. Have you seen any websites that may have something to take a peek at? Toolman | ||
| Steve Fessenden (63.25.54.95) Rating: N/A |
Your local pressure washer shop will have the water sand blaster. They run around $300 up. I haven't used one but that is what I am going to buy to clean up rust on the farm equipment. Should be less dust too. Be sure to where a good respirator. Sandblasters who don't get silicosis, kind of a white black lung disease. Steve Fessenden | ||
| Steve Sanford (208.186.186.24)
Rating: N/A |
I bought mine from norhtern hydraulics, from 50.00 to 75.00 depending on the pressure washer. It is a lot less mess, no dust, just dry it off good before painting. Steve | ||
| dougthebonifiedbusnut (24.147.153.205)
Rating: N/A |
thank you all am stuck with the two tanks now so i will have to make do am going to try using the good media and put the hopper above the cabinet and try messing with the cfm across the nozzle but i think usher is correct i do have some pretty good moisture that is not doing me any goodwill keep all informed | ||
| RJ Long (66.74.169.186)
Rating: N/A |
Doug - Add an in-line moisture trap coming right off the compressor, upstream of the gun. Not very expensive, should help keep things dry. I got mine at Sears, in the hardware department where they sell compressors, but should be available most anywhere compressors are sold. RJ PD4106-2784 Fresno CA | ||
| Steve 80 Crown Atomic (64.12.105.54)
Rating: N/A |
I tried siphon-feed sand blasters, the cheap ones, and the Craftsman $60 cheapo. All put out a small pattern and most of that was air, very little sand. It took forever to blast away 4-5 layers of urethane paint. Next, I bought Harbor Freight’s $100 pressurized sand blaster. I should have known better, having bought dozens of their tools that I later found to be absolute junk. The threaded connections were so sloppy I needed two rolls of teflon tape to minimize the air leaks. The manual wasn’t too clear on assembly, so I used the photo on the box also as a guide. After hooking it up, filling it ¾ full with screened, dry sand, I squeezed the trigger… And got nothing. Fiddling with the valves for 10 minutes provided about 2 minutes of good sandblasting, and this cycle kept repeating itself. I finally got this pile of junk working decently, but the hours of aggravation it caused me has earned it a trip to the rifle range as soon as I’m done with it. I would suggest you stay away from this unit, but if you do buy one, here’s a few hints… 1. Replace the bottom valve with a quality water valve and Tee fitting from Home Depot. 50% of my problems were related to this valve. 2. Replace the cheap hose clamps with ones from your auto parts store. It’s no fun when HF’s break loose and you get blasted. 3. Remove the trigger/nozzle assembly and throw it down a 100ft well. The inner diameter of the large and small nozzles were too narrow to get twice-screened play sand through without clogging. My field mod was to place a 6-inch piece of steel pipe on the end of the hose and screw a 1/4inch-NPT quick-disconnect air hose fitting onto the pipe. The inner diameter of the fitting is about 3/16, and it works much better than HF’s nozzles. The steel nozzle will wear out after about 10-12 hours of use, however, I have plenty of HF’s air fittings that were machined wrong and can’t be used on air tools. The pipe seems to help smooth the airflow and give a tighter pattern than not using it. HF’s trigger assembly requires an EXTREME amount of clamping force, that will tire the strongest grip in a hurry, and it created numerous clogs inside the assembly. I no longer have an on/off lever at the nozzle, just use the air shut-off valve at the hopper. 4. Also throw that crappy sandblast hood down the well. Mine had so much distortion in the clear plastic visor, it was similar to the funky house of mirrors at the local state fair. I did buy HF’s $20 sandblast hood, another piece of garbage. The clear plastic shield kept falling out, so I taped it in place. After about 10 hours of blasting, it was so scratched and pitted it was impossible to see what I was blasting, in broad daylight. The hood/visor hangs down from a plastic helmet and the visor rarely stayed in front of my eyes, requiring constant adjustment. My current protection is a police issue gas mask that has a full-face visor. The tear-gas filters work fine and can be reused by gently blowing them out with compressed air. I tape a piece of clear plastic over the visor, and when that gets pitted, replace it with a new piece, cut from heavy-weight sheet protectors, available at any office supply store. These masks and filters are readily available on Ebay, from $2 for military issue masks, to $20 for full-visor police/fireman/minors masks. Filters run $2-$5 a set. I put on a painter’s hood before the mask. This gear is also used for painting, except when using isocyanate paints. I use Home Depot’s play sand because it’s cheap, at $2.50 for a 50 lb bag. I pour this through a homemade screener, using regular steel window screen as the filter, and this has eliminated all clogging using my setup. I spread a plastic tarp under my work area, to catch the sand for reuse. There are three water traps in the air line, and even with 50-80% humidity (it’s New Mexico’s rainy season), I haven’t had a problem, just frequently drain out the trapped water. I’m using a Craftsman 5hp and a Sanborn 3hp compressor. Combined, they put out 16.2 s.c.f.m at 90 psi, with a total capacity of 42 gallons, and just manage to keep up with my sandblaster. When beginning to sandblast, I pressurize the tank to about 90psi, then divert the air out the nozzle, and adjust the bottom valve for the desired amount of sand. I can blast non-stop, until I run out of sand. Opening the sand valve fully will reduce the velocity and use up sand in a hurry. The Craftsman requires gasket/bearing replacement every 75-100 hours, and it has less than 300 hrs on it. Another piece of junk, but not as bad as my Campbell-Hausfield 5hp. That thing tore itself apart during the first 50 hrs of use. Still wish I’d kept my SpeedAire. I did rent a soda blaster a while back, having been impressed with the results from one used at work. For my bus, I wanted to quickly blast away dirt, old paint and corrosion, then immediately repaint. The only blaster in town for rent was a huge unit, that also required a pressure washer putting out a minimum of 4 gallons per minute. My washer could only do 3gpm, which couldn’t siphon enough soda to do the job. The 4gpm washer costs $50/day to rent and I would have needed it frequently, over a period of months, as I disassembled my bus, so that idea was scrapped. I’ve stuck to the pressurized sandblaster for steel. For aluminum, I use chemical strippers and a siphon-feed blaster with industrial grade baking soda, which is vastly slower than my sand blaster. This soda didn’t work in the pressure-feed blaster because it packs itself too tightly in the hopper. At work, we were required to soda blast an aircraft’s engine mount structures, because this would not cause damage like other stripping/blasting methods. Not having a store-bought unit, we rigged a homemade soda blaster using a pressure washer, a siphon-feed sand blast gun, and industrial baking soda. It did the job, but took forever and made a huge mess. About 10-20 slow passes over each area were required, to get down to bare metal. However, without causing any damage to aluminum as thin as .030, it cleaned away the smallest traces of dirt, paint and corrosion. What looked like solid aluminum structure was found to be corroded to ½ it’s original thickness. Several types of corrosion had been growing, under the paint, and eating away at areas that were tough to inspect. The owner went ballistic when he got the labor bill, but apologized when we showed him that either of his engines would have departed the aircraft in a few years. Just my $.10 worth. Like to hear from anyone with better results using a homemade soda blaster. Steve | ||
| dougthebonifiedbusnut (24.147.153.205)
Rating: N/A |
rj and steve thanks a lot hey steve give me your email so i can talk to you some more i think you know im building a crown also |
