Home Sandblaster

[geodon]

Does anybody have one?

Worth getting??

My compressor is getting on a bit but I think it's good for ~12cfm. Will that do the job?

I have front & rear wishbone/coil suspensions and all brakes to do. From my experience, I won't get much change from $200.

[p38arover]

I have one. My compressor is a 13 cfm unit and it can't keep up. Even when it was new it couldn't keep up with the air demand.

BTW, the sand needs to be DRY! I haven't used the blaster for years.

I haven't tried commercial blasting grit.

You're right about the cost of commercial blasting, I had a few items from my DeWalt radial arm saw blasted and it cost about $150.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

You can always make up an adapter hose with a "T" piece and borrow a mates compressor to join to the volume of the two compressors.

Also make sure you use the largest bore size hoses with the shortest appropriate lengths you can find, for both the adapter and blaster supply line. Doubling the bore diameter size increases the volume at the same pressure by a factor of four and reduces both resistance and turbulent flow along the walls at the same time.

[p38arover]

I think this is part of the problem with my set-up - too much pressure loss along the air line. Maybe I should try a very short air hose.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I think this is part of the problem with my set-up - too much pressure loss along the air line. Maybe I should try a very short air hose.A very short or very fat air hose. Or both.

The other thing is to come over to Prestons, Cookey has recently bought a 100CFM/150PSI compressor.

[geodon]

Brilliant, Lotza!!

I can borrow "Her" compressor that she uses for art. Its 8cfm so I could have 20 cfm in theory,

I knew they were gluttons for air so I've not thought much about it because I thought it would entail a new compressor

BTW I just realised I have 5 wheels as well.

Added up I may as well buy this:

Sandblast Sandblaster Cabinet Sand Blaster Beadblaster With Stand Massive Sale | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SANDBLAST-SANDBLASTER-CABINET-SAND-BLASTER-BEADBLASTER-WITH-STAND-MASSIVE-SALE-/171491516601?pt=AU_Air_Tools&hash=item27edb0e0b9)

[p38arover]

Hmm, tempting!

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Brilliant, Lotza!!

I can borrow "Her" compressor that she uses for art. Its 8cfm so I could have 20 cfm in theory,

I knew they were gluttons for air so I've not thought much about it because I thought it would entail a new compressor

BTW I just realised I have 5 wheels as well.

Added up I may as well buy this:

Sandblast Sandblaster Cabinet Sand Blaster Beadblaster With Stand Massive Sale | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SANDBLAST-SANDBLASTER-CABINET-SAND-BLASTER-BEADBLASTER-WITH-STAND-MASSIVE-SALE-/171491516601?pt=AU_Air_Tools&hash=item27edb0e0b9)Another trick is to find an old compressor unit with a dead motor etc, remove the compressor and fit a male fitting (or two) onto it and run the two compressors into the tank. You then take your air supply for the blaster off this additional reservoir and let it charge up from both compressors. It gives you extra volume for short episodes of blasting.

In the chook shed I have installed 100m of air line in the roof with connection points about every 20m, but the flow losses in the length makes pumping up tyres etc at the wrong end very tedious. Having the reservoir tank insitu and charged its like working next to the compressor. I would still do blasting activities close to the compressor.

[Trundle]

Hi, I have a little unit, but found it a lot quicker, cheaper and less frustrating to take a slab of beer to the local fabrication shop, and they just do it with there next project. I find that the grit gets moist to quick, and in the cabinets, it gets contaminated to quickly. Good luck with it.

[p38arover]

My sand blaster is one that looks like a spray gun with a nozzle, something like the one below. One fills the pot with sand rather than paint.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

[LandyAndy]

I have one.Its a plastic case you wear on your shoulder and have a gun on a hose.
Its OK,the garnet that came with it was ordinary.
I got a bag of glass beads from the line marker people,the stuff they mix in with the paint.
It works better than the garnett,makes the shed floor quite slippery;););););););)
Andrew

[DoubleChevron]

Build yourself a PA blaster, all you need is for example and old LPG bottle (or bottle of any sort really.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/PA_Sandblasting/info

If you can't join, yell out. he used to have ebay auctions and a webpage where for a token amount of money (bugger all .... < $10.00bucks) he's send you his plans. If you can't get into contact with him, let me know and I'll forward you them ( but hey, he put a ****load of effort and time into this... so pay him his token amount).


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/928.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/929.jpg

This is my sandblaster, you can probably work out why it's wwwwaaaaaayyyyy, wwwwaaayyyy, way better than any store bought one just by looking at it.

What I did was chop an LPG bottle in half and weld it back together so we had a nice big funnel in the top that allows you to easily fill it with blasting media. Basically you feed about 5psi of air into the top of the blaster above the blasting medium and this pushes the blasting media through to the gun so it doesn't clog. It works brilliantly.

Though the parts are free, you'll probably find you'll spend close to $100 on air fittings and the regulator to add the 1->10psi of air into the tank to push the abrasive through to the gun.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/930.jpg

You also *need* a cabinet so you can recycle the abbrassive. This is just an old computer desk I "re-arranged" into a box so I can feed big stuff in. I just sweep it back out and re-use the blasting media.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/931.jpg

I just pull the desk side off to load it.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/932.jpg

You don't want to breath this stuff!!! I cut a hole in the top and screwed a radiator fan into it (from a car wreck), then siliconed an old plastic tub over the top .... it blow the dust out of your work area.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/933.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/934.jpg

the work brilliantly with just the cheapo blasting gun (about $18.00 from memory). This is a brake caliper after clean up. this is glass media from memory

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/935.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/936.jpg

glass beads versus blasting media ...

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/937.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/10/938.jpg

the grit is far more aggresive, you'd never go near aluminium with it.

I have my old 16CFM clisby compressor and another 8CFM compressor I picked up at the tip.... running these side by side is borderline, but works well for me. You need a LOT OF AIR to sandblast with.

seeya,
Shane L.

[Roverlord off road spares]

My sand blaster is one that looks like a spray gun with a nozzle, something like the one below. One fills the pot with sand rather than paint.

http://spraygun.net.au/sites/default/files/styles/uc_product/public/ST1-Sandblasting-Guns.jpg?itok=YihZVQEP
I just bought one of those toys, didn't really do the job for the amount of grit it consumed and the loss of grit was a lot. I think a proper sand blast box is on my Christmas list

[LandyAndy]

How good is Shane's setup????
Great work.
Andrew

[clive22]

Hi

There is a some well thought through blast pots/chambers here. But you have to be blasting fairly often to make it custom building one worthwhile

But thinking back to the op original question, I would be thinking taking the parts down the shop may be the answer, unless you want to build a blast pot/chamber.

The difference between domestic compressors and commercial blasting compressors is substantial Blasting is essentially a high energy process.

The flow rates mentioned in this post are way down on what is used commercially.

250 cfm is widely regarded as the minimum for blasting, say garnet. If your profiling the metal for painting or removing rust cant see too much less working. We've tried with less air and haven't achieved what we wanted, even with big pipes on the pots, etc.

We use a 400 cfm ingersol rand compressor at work for blasting, which works very well.

Clive

[101 Ron]

I have done this blasting thing a bit now.
I started off with a 30 dollar gun which worked well,but uses to much grit for big jobs and too much mess.
The next step was a 700 dollar machine which is portable and has a vacuum arrangement in the blasting head that recycles the grit and stops dust.
It is possible for a larger single phase compressor to keep up with the needs of this machine, but it is very slow in removing paint and rust and will only recycle the grit and not make a mess when working on flat surfaces.
The next step was a cabinet machine.........a large one I purchased for 1500 dollars and has been the machine I use the most.
A motor cycle frame to large truck wheels,radiators etc will fit in it.
It requires 415 power supply for the fan and has blow back system to clean the air filter.
My 415 compressor works extremely hard to keep up to the needs of this machine..
I use garnet in all my machines.
The large cabinet machine always has a problem of lack of grit feed to the gun and requires a lot of fiddling to get it to run well.
I am now looking in a different direction.
To be serious with air grit blasting you need a diesel driven compressor and about 30 thousand dollars and a old shipping container to blast in so the grit and be recycled.
I now am setting up a grit blasting attachment to a pressure cleaner.
It has a lot of advantages.
No dust
Cheaper purchase price for the given grit blasting effect.
Is possible to recycle grit with a lot of effort.
Can use beach sand as one use and not have to worry about health effects.
No compressor required, but a large electric or petrol pressure washer needed.
Cost of large pressure washer is cheaper than a large compressor.
The cost of a wetblasting lance is expensive to purchase, but can be home made with only the harden nozzle being purchased.

[geodon]

Shane, I sent you a PM- not sure if you got it. Pls let me know- I'm trying to duplicate your splendid system onto an old cage trailer I hardly use anymore.
Thnx


George

[numpty]

Added up I may as well buy this:

Sandblast Sandblaster Cabinet Sand Blaster Beadblaster With Stand Massive Sale | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SANDBLAST-SANDBLASTER-CABINET-SAND-BLASTER-BEADBLASTER-WITH-STAND-MASSIVE-SALE-/171491516601?pt=AU_Air_Tools&hash=item27edb0e0b9)

I bought one like this from the local Gasweld store. Unfortunately it isn't big enough to get a wheel inside. And my compressor is a 13cfm petrol driven Peerless job.

Does a great job with ordinary sand, but yes, it can clog up sometimes with paint chips. Bloody army and their 12 coats + of paint :D

That's a great setup Shane.

[Tank]

I bought one like this from the local Gasweld store. Unfortunately it isn't big enough to get a wheel inside. And my compressor is a 13cfm petrol driven Peerless job.

Does a great job with ordinary sand, but yes, it can clog up sometimes with paint chips. Bloody army and their 12 coats + of paint :D

That's a great setup Shane.


Hate to throw a spanner in the works, but most types of sandblasting can cause damage or premature failure of the sand blasted part, e.g.
A mate sandblasted his HQ Holden Panelvan, hired professional equipment, the blasting media stretched the metal panels so much that when he drove his van the side walls of the van and the side body panels used to flap like a flag in a gale.
Another more serious incident a bloke had his Norton Feather bed frame and Triple Clamps sand blasted, during the next race the fork steering head along with the triple clamp snapped at speed, he lost a leg in that crash.
Sand Blasting changes the surface of the metal being blasted, it peens the metal which can cause case hardening, esp. on already high tensile metals
it can also change the structure of case hardened metals and change their characteristics.
A lot of Pro sandblasters use much softer blast media like Bicarbonate soda powder or nut shells to prevent metal change and damage, so check out whether it is safe to sand (Hard) blast a particular item, Regards Frank.

[numpty]

Hate to throw a spanner in the works, but most types of sandblasting can cause damage or premature failure of the sand blasted part, e.g.
A mate sandblasted his HQ Holden Panelvan, hired professional equipment, the blasting media stretched the metal panels so much that when he drove his van the side walls of the van and the side body panels used to flap like a flag in a gale.
Another more serious incident a bloke had his Norton Feather bed frame and Triple Clamps sand blasted, during the next race the fork steering head along with the triple clamp snapped at speed, he lost a leg in that crash.
Sand Blasting changes the surface of the metal being blasted, it peens the metal which can cause case hardening, esp. on already high tensile metals
it can also change the structure of case hardened metals and change their characteristics.
A lot of Pro sandblasters use much softer blast media like Bicarbonate soda powder or nut shells to prevent metal change and damage, so check out whether it is safe to sand (Hard) blast a particular item, Regards Frank.

Yeah, thanks Tank. I only use it for bits n pieces, not panel work.

[crash]

I know a powder coater who will not blast body panels because yes they will warp with the heat. Hobby blasters are slower than commercial machines and put alot less heat into the panels.
When setting up your blaster make sure you have a good water trap on your air line - this is where alot of moisture can come into the sand and start clogging.

I was fortunate to get some ground glass from this powder coater and that worked well. It is not suppose to heat up panels like other mediums.

I have a small chamber/blast pot that I have modified slightly - changed the bottom t section for a larger diameter which has improved things.
It has a lever activated gate valve as your "on/off" switch. Make sure if you have this type that you have it either on or off - if used only partly on/off and depending on what the valve is made of you will end up wearing a hole through the side of the valve. I have changed all of my valves over to stainless steel and they have lasted alot better.
What ever gun you get, get your self a proper tungsten nozzle - will last alot longer than the ceramic tips - yes they cost over $100.00 but they will last a lifetime for an occasional user.

Dryice blasting looks very interesting - very clean aswell, only mess is what comes off of the item you are blasting.

[loanrangie]

Years ago i was restoring an XR Fairmont and sent the doors off to be blasted, there was a medium shortage at the time so the blaster was using crushed apricot kernels.
Worked well without warping any panels although i did only get the door catch and edge areas done as stripping flat panels is easy by hand.
Sand is fine for small jobs done at home but most of the time a wire wheel on a grinder works better and quicker.

[crash]

apricot kernels.
Worked well without warping any panels although i did only get the door catch and edge areas done as stripping flat panels is easy by hand.
Sand is fine for small jobs done at home but most of the time a wire wheel on a grinder works better and quicker.

Walnut / apricot kernals are good because they do not build up heat, but are very dusty and can not be recylced. When you start looking into it it is amazing what they can use as abrasives every thing from dry ice, crushed glass to different garnets and even foundry slags. It is chosing the right medium for the right job. My local powder coater uses metal filings for the majority of his abrasive blasting.
Wire wheels / sanders are good aslong as their is not any fine pity. I have sanded down a panel then hit it with the sandblaster to get at these fine pits. Painter strippers also work well and quickly on large panels.

[geodon]

I wish I'd done this 20 years ago! Thanks to Shane (DoubleChevron) for the inspiration.

This trailer became superfluous to my needs once my Landy (a dropside tray) was finished. A nice flexible arrangement: I can store it in the shed and, when needed, pull it out with the Ferguson and position it in the doorway of the workshop with the exhaust blowing the dust well away from where I'm working.


MEDIA SUPPLY SYSTEM

I tried to obtain an out of date 45kg LPG tank (as per Shane) for a medium hopper but struck problems. It seemed people thought:

(a) I was making The Queen Mother of Pipe Bombs OR

(b) I was in danger of immolating myself by igniting residual fumes with my angle grinder.
So I went with 5 plastic 20 litre drums. Dirt cheap! They are individually pressurised (but only to 5-10psi) so as to make it easier for the gun to suck media up. Using standard 19mm black plastic irrigation stuff, each has its own tap. I was hoping to use existing bung holes but the stuff drained poorly. So I cut holes in the bottom (& lids) & epoxied the fittings in. When one runs out, I shift the air pressure to the next drum, turn off the tap on the empty one then turn on the full one. Each one holds almost 2 bags of Garnet.

I also included a purge system: all hoppers off, pressure applied to the purge pipe, gun trigger on and spray until the media is used up & the pipes are clean. That should eliminate the risk of wet media blockages.
The media in the drums will be air tight so will hopefully stay dry.
Having 5 drums means I can have different media (Garnet, glass, walnut shells etc.) loaded up & ready to go.

Re-cycling is by scraping & sweeping used media into bins & sieving back into the drums. I just use fly wire over the funnel and, yes OHS people, I always use a respirator!


THE GUN
A suction & mixing device.

Not too cheap because I wanted easily obtainable replaceable ceramic tips & a collection of air jets to suit the capacity of my compressors.


AIR SUPPLY
Three compressors with a total of ~25cfm. It's not REALLY enough. Ideally, I'll remove the baby one and add a 17-18cfm petrol compressor (~$650) mounted outside the workshop later. Big electric compressors need 3 phase power.


SAFETY EXHAUST

I used a $38 inline fan & 150mm storm water pipe. The elbow on the mudguard is not fixed so I can pivot the tail pipe (supported by a modified car stand) to suit the prevailing wind. The pipe also provided ports for the gloves.



MAJOR COSTS
9mm Plywood~$200 (Bloody Hell!)


Air fittings ~$150
Gun ~ $50

Perspex ~$50

Gloves $35/pair
Exhaust~ $100



The Industrial Chique designer lampshades were free- the barrel of a 20 litre plastic drum cut in half- & necessary. The 12W 1200 lumen lights so close to my eyes were almost painful.
The spray bench is an ancient base of a display gondola to which I welded scrap steel tube, rod & mesh.
Overall, I've spent less than what I would have paid to outsource the sandblasting I need to do but I also will gain a lot of time- no delivery/pick up & waiting. Plus, I can paint immediately so I don't have to pay for the stuff to be primed.

[geodon]

Some more photos to complete the story

[geodon]

This came as a "spare" wishbone for the Dauphine.


I can't use it but it was a suitable experiment.


This was ~ 5mins work. I could have done better but there was no point.


There was a big mastic type deposit that was tough but came off slowly.

[crash]

If I were you I would buy a tungsten tip for the gun. It will set you back around $120.00 but you will not have to worry about replacing it for a very long time.

[DoubleChevron]

Fantastic :banana::banana::banana:

It's a brilliant setup isn't it .... If you find you have feed issues... you just add another couple of PSI above the blasting media.

The best bit is you can easily sweep up and re-use the blasting media. It's still easier to use something like a stripping disc in a 4" grinder to do the bulk of the stripping, then use your blasting cabinet to do the difficult too access areas.

It's amazing how much air you need :) Less air just means a smaller abrasive tip in the gun, and much slower stripping.

That arm looks like you used glass beeds, these are very gentle and slow. If you get some cheaper abbrasive on heavy heavy stuff like an arm it'll be much faster and work a lot better.

seeya,
Shane L.

[crash]

I too recycle my medium, and top up when it starts to loose its cutting edge.
When I sieve my medium (through fly wire) I have a home fan setup behind me, this blows away alot of the real fine sand dust. This helps when you are blasting as you have alot less useless dust when blasting.

[p38arover]

I saw a bench top grit blasting cabinet at Super Cheap Auto today. price $209. They also carry grit blasting medium.

See Sandblast Cabinet - Table Top - Supercheap Auto Australia (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Sandblast-Cabinet-Table-Top.aspx?pid=285583#Recommendations)

[dhc4ever]

:o
I saw a bench top grit blasting cabinet at Super Cheap Auto today. price $209. They also carry grit blasting medium.

See Sandblast Cabinet - Table Top - Supercheap Auto Australia (http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Sandblast-Cabinet-Table-Top.aspx?pid=285583#Recommendations)

I picked up one of these on special for $120 around 18 months ago.
To get it to work effectively I've added another 3 air outlet filters and made up a vacuum cleaner attachment which means I can see what I'm working on for more than 5 seconds. Now all thats done it works reasonably well.
If your near Ipswich qld its now for sale as I need bigger one, pm me if interested.

[workingonit]

Anyone using sapphire wafers or diamond like carbon coatings on the windows of their booths or visors?

Source for materials? Have written to a few suppliers of sapphire windows but no replies over a few days.

Can't seem to get a handle on suppliers for the 'diamond coated glass'.

See Dan Gelberts comments about 35 seconds in (and only $20 a pane!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7onZGqrYyY