I had been wanting a sandblaster for a while, (I need it to cut my windshield), but nothing really impressed me, the high dollar units were just that, high dollar, so I thought why not make one. After extensive research I found and bought plans off the internet, PABlaster.com. I call it "Frankenblaster", made it from an old 80 gal water heater (had to cut it about 10 inches shorter, too big) , a concoction of fittings, a dolly and other various parts. Tried it out with regular masonry sand just to get the pressures right, man this thing is great. Looks ugly, but works like a charm, can't wait to start buying other types of abrasive media. I attached samples of what I did with it. BTW, the tank only holds about 7 to 10 PSI, so before I get bombarded with any structural, strength or water heater dangers, the tank hold very little pressure.
There is a special mask that looks like the foam tape; I guess the sand bounces off. I used to cut patterns for the sandblasted wood signs when I was in the sign biz, but never actually blasted the signs. I guess it would work on glass as well.
Some specifics, yes it does run 7-10 psi in the tank, but at the gun you can run anywhere from 60 to 90 PSI, the trim in the pic was blasted using 60 psi, and the bumper was blasted at 90 psi using masonry sand It uses both the siphon feed and pressure pot systems at the same time, so imagine, the tank, running at 7 psi forces the sand out and feeds it to the gun running at pressure of 60-90 PSI depending on what you are blasting and with what media you are using. You can make em out of anything from propane tanks to fire extinguishers to get this plastic buckets (with a lid)!!. Almost sounds like "running engine on water" but it does work.
Wow, cool, thanks. This beats the hell out of "what's your favorite color" posts. I marked the noted link as I need to build one of these also. THANKS
I know, sometimes good posts will end up in oblivion before the first day..... I'll rename the thread to "rat rod sandblaster" to keep it up-top; come to think of it the tank looks really ratty! So what is your favorite color wvenfield?
So the 7-10psi pushes the grit to the gun which is then converting it to a siphon type? What cfm does it need? Not to be a dick, but please leave the sand alone...I know its cheap. Black beauty is $11.50 per 100lbs, green diamond is $10.00 per 100lbs...were you just using it for a quick test? Don't want to come off as a punk...
Not to be a dick, but please leave the sand alone...I know its cheap. Black beauty is $11.50 per 100lbs, green diamond is $10.00 per 100lbs...were you just using it for a quick test? Don't want to come off as a punk...[/QUOTE] "Tried it out with regular masonry sand just to get the pressures right"
i hear ya, i was using the sand cause i personally didn't think this thing was going to work, you see when you bought the plans, there really isn't any one right way to do it, you use materials you have "laying around". So since FrankenBlaster was built straying away from what the pictures pictures looked like, i needed to make sure i didn't buy the good stuff waste it, and realize it wasn't going to work. So "Tried it out with regular masonry sand just to get the pressures right" and make sure it works. I am actually looking forward to using black beauty and anything esle out there except sand.
Hhmm, well the gun needs 9 cfm at 90 psi, the gun is a 13 dollar siphon feed gun from homedepot but its not being used striclty as a siphon gun, that being said, i would gestimate about 7 cfm at 80 psi at the gun with 7 psi in the tank....make sense?
Cool, glad to find this courtesy of the search function!!!!! Asked for a blaster for my Bday this eve, may need to amend that !
If anyone is concerned about CFM you can downsize the gun orifice to cut air consumption. They wear out and need replaced periodically anyway. Nice setup, bet the small amount of pressure eliminates uneven media feed that suction blast is notorious for. Very cool.
Anywhere on the net that plans like this are free???? Seems like everything can be found that way these days.....(meaning that I am sure the guy selling the plans found them free somewhere himself)...........and my Paypal is currently jacked.
i have one almost like that made out of a old hot water tank. i run 90psi and unit has 1" hose. built like a TPI tools unit. run copper slag and it works great. the one part i had to make was where the nozzel attached to the hose, used a combo of pipe and electrical fittings. i need to make a larger opening for filling,3 bags takes some time to fill.
as far as masking off the glass check with a local monument company and see what they mask their stuff off with. I believe they use some sort of rubber tape.
One other thing you might consider if making one of these is a low-pressure pop-off valve on the tank/hopper. Just in case you have a regulator malfunction...........
I've built 2 blasters over the years, one held a little over 2000lbs and the other bout 80lbs. Never heard of havin 10lb in the tank. I had same pressure in the tank and line,100lb+,the only thing was a ball valve on the bottom to control sand flow and another chock valve on the line.Both are blastin SOB's. I also use an old water heater tank for a sprayer and pump the bad boy to 100psi. , a couple of times it started peein and I had to weld'em up. So are you not sure of your welds? Cause the tank'll hold it
Monument company (tombstone) resist works great for a stencil to blast thru. Some gray duct tapes used in numerous layers works well also. Please be sure to use a good respirator while blasting,that damned sand doesn't care whose lungs it kills! A wet paper towel inside a good brand of particulum respirator works really well to insure you breath another day. Take regular coffee breaks for a beverage of your choice and to let the compressor catch up. Cool thread!
Yes , in my exp. they are right hand thread .... I actually use an old compressor for a tank on my vacuum presses .
Hey, look at this, I had forgotten about this thread. Funny thing is i just pulled my blaster into the garage yesterday, I hadn't used it for a while, I plugged in some air and it kept going, still had sand in it. Last I used it was for this: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296834 Which is why I made it in the first place. What I learned is, once you dial it in good this thing works great, especially when you can hold 300 pounds of grit.
I was at a Harbor Freight store the other day looking at a pressure pot type blaster. It looked too simple to build one out of the similar size propane tanks I've got laying around (no need to warn against cutting without purging, thanks for your concern anyway). My only question is this: Is there anything in the tank other than just a hole in the bottom that the sand flows to? I wondered if there wasn't a riser tube with holes or something that would allow more air than media to exit the bottom bung? My other question is: What about abrassive water blasting? Wouldn't that eliminate the heat warp I've heard tell of? It seems abrassive water blasting would also eliminate the health concerns of breathing media. Which reminds me: I hear everyone talking about how environmentally friendly soda blasting is. Let's not forget that the waste contains whatever came off the car. If you run into a Greeny Enforcement person you might have problems. Watch your hindparts.
I am finally getting all the parts together to build my PA Blaster. I will have about $50 in mine when done.