Ok so I broke my rule of buying no junk tools and bought a Harbor Freight sandblaster. It will not spray sand hard enough to even touch the paint on my axle. Who makes a decent sandblaster without spending a ton of money. I have gone through the troubleshooting guide and no improvements.
Which blaster model do you have? What is your line pressure? Do you have a water trap on the compressor? What abrasive are you using? Remembering to wear your respirator?
I have 125psi at the unit, there is a water trap before the hose and a water trap on the blaster itself.
I have a Harbor Freight cabinet that works fine. I also use a Campbell-Hausfeld portable siphon-feed unit that is good for big stuff outside and works pretty well. It wasn't expensive.
Sand is rubbish for blasting. You need decent abrasive, like aluminium oxide, for thick heavy hard old paint. I tried plain sand in my cheapie blaster, and it was rubbish.
The right sand can work (and can kill you if you don't wear a good respirator). I have used 70-mesh with good results for rust an paint removal, through a HF pressure blaster. It is finer and more uniform than "play sand" or the cement sand you might find at the home and garden center. It is pretty cheap. It is used in casting metals and in pottery.
I use an HF 40# pressurized blaster and it works just fine. I use Starblast media as it is 95% silica free. It took a little while to dial it in but it's been working ok for me. I only bring 65 to 70#'s to the tank and the bottom sand valve is at 50% or less open. You must have one big compressor to run that thing at 125 inlet pressure. Now one thing I did notice is that areas that are full of oil need to be cleaned before I can blast effectively. Invest in a good hood and a better respirator. Moisture is your enemy. Make sure you have plenty of dry air.
I have the HF blast cabinet also. Works great, when you have the vacuum hooked up to suck the dust out, otherwise you cant see anything (common sense). I do NOT recommend aluminum oxide for anything other than light, fragile work. Try Starlight or plastic media. I also have the Spot Blaster from Eastwood (?). Works OK for small items. Ive only used sand with this, not sure what other meduims will work with it. I ALSO use the cheapo blaster that SEARS sells. I only use this for sandblasting. You can buy the replacement tips any pretty much any Seas store. It works pretty good, just make sure you have a respirator (or, as I use, a chem mask)! I'm looking to build a big blasting system which will enable me to blast entire vehicles. Anybody got a rough idea?
I have the BarrelBlaster --> It works GREAT!! I love these features: -- Made in the USA -- Does not leak -- Free, Live, English speaking tech support -- It comes preassembled These are the reasons I picked the BarrelBlaster over the Harbor Freight unit. http://www.barrelblaster.com/
I'm doing the barrel blaster. Thanks for the input. I'm smart enough to use a respirator. And yes I have a hell of an air compressor.
We don't mean to harp on it, it is just really dangerous to go without, and many of us have seen it happen. You are more useful to us alive.
And what is a "hell of an air compressor"? How many C.F.M. is that? If you're not pumping 15 C.F.M. at that pressure, it ain't the fault of the blaster. The right volume, pressure, and media is required. Miss any one of the three and you'll be unhappy.
Sandblasters are relitively simple equipment you have siphon feed and pressure pot feed check to see if your nozzle is plugged..maybe the media your using is caking up or too large for your nozzle dont use "sand" buy media designed for blasting..it wont pick up moisture and plug up your gun also take apart the gun and see that there isnt an obstuction in the feed or nozzle..tiny chunk of shit can screw things up. than if its siphon feed make sure the siphon hose isnt kinked or junked up and down in the media if its a pressure pot make sure its clean and the "drop out" is clean (where the sand goes past the lower valve) adiquate pressure is a must..but volume is just as important.. hope you find your issue..it shouldnt be too hard to get it running right and Dale is a fast typer
I have a Maxus 80 lb pressure pot. I bought it online from Air Compressors Direct. It does everything I want just fine. The media makes a BIG difference. DO NOT use playground sand or Silca Sand. Most Menards, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, etc carry a Black Diamond or similar brand (crushed coal slag) sand blasting media for around $4 to $6 per 50 lbs. This is a much better, safer (silca free) product, and it is cheap enough to be disposable. Trust me, don't be cheap and spend your money on a quality air compressor and blaster. Not having enough air (cfm) is the biggest problem most people encounter. Good Luck and have fun. http://www.aircompressorsdirect.com/Maxus-MXS21002/p555.html
The best sandblaster is the one you pay to blast you'r stuff. I have found it is not worth messing with.Just my 2cents.........PINCHER
Hard to argue with the guys that say hire it out. It is nasty, noisy, dirty business if your are doing anything larger than what can be fit inside a cabinet. After doing a number of frames and bodies myself, I have to agree that there is a ton of logic in hiring it out and supporting your local economy.
Coal slag has arsenic and other traces of heavy metals, also remember that silica is only part of the problem...you don't want to breath the lead, zinc, mercury, etc...in questionable old paints.
Make sure your air compressor is up to the task. I bought the red pot sand blaster from Harbor Freight and tried to use it with my 5 horse - 30 gallon craftsman air compressor. It worked, but not all that well. Same blaster on a friends big compressor worked very well. It's all in the compressor.
I have to agree with the guys that say to hire it out, it makes too much sense not too. The place I use has 2 big blast rooms that look like big paint booths and a lot of other professional equipment that gives a lot more professional results than anything I could do myself, not to mention the huge mess you have when trying to blast out in the open.
Just my experience but I would have to go with the old saying,If you want it done right,do it your self. I have tried several different sandblasters for hire and never expected to get perfect results but I can honestly say that I NEVER got what I felt was even close to satisfactory results.Most of the time I got pieces back that were lucky to have a little over half of the surface hit by the blaster and the guy stands there with his hand out and a smile like he is so proud to have taken your money for nothing.I would love to find someone that would do even a half way good job even if I had to touch it up myself to my expectations but It has never happened for me.I hate to be negative but this has always been a sore spot wiyh me.
Using a harbor freight pressurized pot system with no issues. 60 lb unit using #30 sand, at 80 psi. Play with your valves, once you get it all right, should work fine. Any moisture in the sand will give me problems.
We have a Raptor Blaster RB5446 blast cabinet at our shop. Made in the USA, not cheap imported stuff. Works great, and doesn't leak blast media. I recommend plastic media or starlight for paint stripping. Alox is good for getting an angular profile on your painting surface. Plastic is best if you just need to strip paint.
I have seen friends ruin small compressors (5hp 60g) trying to media blast large objects. Make sure to check the duty cycle on your compressor. It may have enough cfm to get the job done but not for hours on end. Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk
My son has a HF pressurized blaster and in the beginning it didn't work for shit. Took apart the mixing valve at the bottom and there was teflon tape stretched across half of the opening. Also found out the sand at Home Depot didn't work hardly at all but switched to the finest grain sand from a masonry supply store and it works great. I always turn the air valve on full and then open the supply valve at the bottom to adjust sand flow. usually 1/3 to 1/2 open. Turn off the sand flow at the bottom before turning off the air and run air threw the hose until sand stops or the sand will get packed into the bottom supply valve. We ungraded to the deadman valve as the supplied ball valve at the tip would start to leak after you turned it off once because the sand would score the ball.
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