Portable Sand Blaster

[grey_ghost]

Hi All,

I am thinking about buying a portable sand blaster - to do large panels that don't fit into my small sand blaster cabinet.

Naturally I already have the media, and know that I have to be careful which media I use on what type of metal.

I was thinking about something like this:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Daytona-Portable-Air-Sandblaster-125psi-Abrasive-Pressure-Soda-Sand-Blaster-Gun/183642986888?epid=25020100695&hash=item2ac1f99988:g:08sAAOSwzFhcUEcU:rk:3:pf:0

Has anybody had any experience with one of these OR could you recommend a unit?

My plan would be to set-up a cheap Bunnings Gazebo, buy a proper face mask / breathing unit - and blast away.

Any recommendations?

Cheers,
GG.

[gromit]

The bigger issue is a large enough compressed air supply to run it for a long enough period of time, I've considered similar abrasive blasters but I need a much bigger compressor to run one so haven't gone down this route yet.

I get the impression the blaster works OK as long as you have reasonably dry air.


Colin

[Homestar]

I know someone that can supply a large enough compressor when needed. [emoji106]

It would be a diesel powered trailer unit.

[grey_ghost]

"...a diesel powered trailer unit" - I want to blast of paint, not blast the panel into the next suburb!!! [bigrolf]

I'm just thinking out loud here - somebody has attacked various panels on the 107" with I think a wire brush.

My initial thought process was - sand back all of the paint, wet sand the scratches out (hopefully) and leave it as is.

I can see that a portable unit has it's limitations - if you look at the advertisement, I rekon that you would only be able to blast for a minute before you have to fill the funnel up again.. It's just an idea..

Although the Wandong Sand Blaster business is up for sale... [wink11]

[Bigbjorn]

"...a diesel powered trailer unit" - I want to blast of paint, not blast the panel into the next suburb!!! [bigrolf]

I'm just thinking out loud here - somebody has attacked various panels on the 107" with I think a wire brush.

My initial thought process was - sand back all of the paint, wet sand the scratches out (hopefully) and leave it as is.

I can see that a portable unit has it's limitations - if you look at the advertisement, I rekon that you would only be able to blast for a minute before you have to fill the funnel up again.. It's just an idea..

Although the Wandong Sand Blaster business is up for sale... [wink11]

Some air tools like blasters, die grinders, belt sanders require high flow so if you don't like stopping and waiting for the reservoir to refill then you need a high flow compressor. Few 240 volt compressors are high flow. Flow gives speed, pressure gives force. Same as hydraulics.

[bsperka]

Have you considered a water based abrasive blaster? Eg karcher / gernie attachment.

[Homestar]

"...a diesel powered trailer unit" - I want to blast of paint, not blast the panel into the next suburb!!! [bigrolf]

I'm just thinking out loud here - somebody has attacked various panels on the 107" with I think a wire brush.

My initial thought process was - sand back all of the paint, wet sand the scratches out (hopefully) and leave it as is.

I can see that a portable unit has it's limitations - if you look at the advertisement, I rekon that you would only be able to blast for a minute before you have to fill the funnel up again.. It's just an idea..

Although the Wandong Sand Blaster business is up for sale... [wink11]

Same pressure air as your compressor - just lots more of it. [emoji106]

[Chilly]

I have just used a water blaster on my door frame. It instantly rusted! Just something to be aware of.

[101 Ron]

The blaster shown will be a waste of time.
It will make a big mess as it doesnt recycle the media like a cabinet one, use lots of media and will not be very effective.
You need serious air supply and a effective way to contain the waste media.
The gun and nozzles shown are not long lasting or effective.
A pressure water cleaner with abrasive pick up would be better with no dust, but you still have to clean up the wet mess afterwards.
Pay to get your stuff blasted, it is usually good value.
Needle guns work well bang for dollar wise with some jobs.
Professional quality sand blasters use boron nozzles and serious diesel driven air supply in a contained dry area ...........smaller inbetween gear has trouble doing things with enough speed or power.

[101 Ron]

The best way I have seen for doing alloy Landrover panels is paint stripper.
Cost effective and just use a water pressure cleaner to remove.
The scratches sand and fill with primer and paint as normal.

[Ferret]

The best way I have seen for doing alloy Landrover panels is paint stripper.
Cost effective and just use a water pressure cleaner to remove.
The scratches sand and fill with primer and paint as normal.

This was my experience when doing back yard spray jobs on a RRC I owned. Thought sand blasting would be the go, paint stripper was much faster.

[gromit]

I have just used a water blaster on my door frame. It instantly rusted! Just something to be aware of.

Same with molasses, scrub with clean water and watch it rust in front of your eyes because it's so clean & unprotected. You need to dry it very quickly and hit it with some phosphoric acid.


The best way I have seen for doing alloy Landrover panels is paint stripper.


Agree on panels but chassis, axles, springs, wheels etc. need a media blaster.

Paying someone to do the job is getting expensive, I'm paying about $25 to get a wheel rim done.

I have a 3-phase supply so I'm on the lookout for a cheap old 3-phase compressor. I'd then use a pot similar to the one Tom linked to but you would need a big tarp to try & catch the blast media to re-use as much as possible.
You do have to work out whether it's financially viable though and weigh up against the convenience of doing it yourself when you need it rather than waiting.


Colin

[workingonit]

Hi All,

Has anybody had any experience with one of these OR could you recommend a unit?

My plan would be to set-up a cheap Bunnings Gazebo, buy a proper face mask / breathing unit - and blast away.

Any recommendations?

Cheers,
GG.

I have one of those units. They're OK. I replaced the ceramic nozzle (half hour life if your lucky) with a boron one (several hundred hours expected life) $90 from BlastOne. Teamed up with a twin single phase pump, only heat tripped once in many many hours of work. Made a half tent of builders plastic lining that resembles a bath tub 6 metres long and 1.5 metres high, the wind takes the fog away. Use a full face agricultural spray helmet, pump mounted on belt using an A1P3 filter. Garnet media.

As an aside, i fixed a small synthetic sapphire window to the helmet visor. The tear away plastic visor was done in 20 minutes while the sapphire showed no pitting at all. There's a business idea for someone...or don't tell me it already exists[bawl]

I've used stripper on really thick coatings of muck and should do OK on the aluminium doors I guess, just watch your skin and eyes. Sand blasting is really good for removing general coatings and getting into tight spaces, although I believe you need to watch old cyanate coatings that can still be toxic dry. Freshly blasted steel can do without undercoat, although it doesn't hurt to have it.

[clive22]

Abrasive blasters are not really meant for stripping paint, though they do but not as well as UHP water. There real job is to profile steel or the substrate (40-75 microns normally) to provide a much better mechanical grip for industrial coatings.
They are designed for pipelines, water tanks, ship hulls. When the material is heavily corroded they remove the rust, etc.

This is a heavy duty industrial process for stripping ten to hundreds of square meters of steel.

We have experimented with small ones, none have really worked that well, or well enough to continue.

A bristle blaster is a useful tool for small scale projects and/or maintenance.

http://www.bristleblaster.com.au/

We use them a lot at work for small scale repairs on truss nodes, etc. Also consider flappers wheels (many types), needle guns

There are lighter processes for removing paint,e.g. soda, UHP water, but it may be just easier for soft aluminium panels to use chemical strippers or a less intensive process.

Wet blasting (or dry ice) is for dust reduction, helpful for industrial scale lead based paint removal lowering containment and dust extraction requirements. Rust inhibitors are used to minimize flash rusting,supported by dehumidifiers and hold coats within 4 hours.

Clive

[gromit]

Hmmm the bristle blaster....not completely convinced.

The single impact of the wire bristles distinguishes the Bristle Blaster® from all other conventional methods of mechanical surface preparation ?

It would be interesting to see what they cost and how long they last.... here we go :-

Monti MBX Bristle Blaster Electric Kit Surface Preparation SE-670-BMC | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Monti-MBX-Bristle-Blaster-Electric-Kit-Surface-Preparation-SE-670-BMC/283379930341?epid=4016914227&hash=item41fac294e5:g:eXsAAOSwBRlcZjJM:rk:3:pf:0)

$2,200 gets an awful lot of abrasive blasting done !!

The pneumatic kit at just under a grand is still expensive.

Monti MBX DIE BLASTER Pneumatic Kit Surface Preparation SDB-001-BMC | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Monti-MBX-DIE-BLASTER-Pneumatic-Kit-Surface-Preparation-SDB-001-BMC/283381497077?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.M BE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D56495%26meid%3Dd76bd7985fa64f3 b8a9080ecc87434b5%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D 3%26sd%3D283379930341%26itm%3D283381497077&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851)


Colin





Colin

[clive22]

Hi

Bristle blasters are in no way designed to compete with the abrasive blasting. And in no way can they.

Remember it is not always possible or desirable to abrasive blast. The process generate tonnes of spent material that must be captured and disposed of (usually at a significant cost).
It is noisy and require quite a bit of pl;ant.
Nor is abrasive blasting economic for smaller or elevated works. Erecting a full encapsulation system with air filtering as is required is expensive.
They are effective and work as intended and are an suitable solution for small scale corrosion removal and profiling -

They may be suitable for small automotive jobs, particularly compared to a small scale blaster which lack power to profile the material, or clean rust.

The cost of a tool must always be compared to what it delivers, not what you emotively feel you should pay for it,

Other small tools grinders, scotch wheels, flap disks to do profile metal as required for base coat adhesion.

Clive

[dennisS1]

Just my view on the subject I have striped more than 1 S1 with paint stripper and never again.
For the last 1, I purchaser 1 of those cheap Ebay tank blaster and 3 bags of glass bead, I have compressor more than up to the job.
Hang up couple of large blue tarps in the shed to make recovery possible the only way to strip panels in my opinion much faster, cheaper, cleaner and all round much nicer job than chemical stripper.
Still take the chassis to commercial blaster but not any Alu bits.
Dennis