I am thinking about purchasing blasting equipment for the home shop. Between my Dad and I we have a Model A P/U, 2 Model AA's and a '52 Minneapolis Moline U tractor that need sand (or media) blasted. We have access to a small cabinet style unit for anything smaller than a wheel. What I am interested in knowing about is how to deal with larger sheetmatal items like the cab, doors, fenders, etc. What should I use (equip and media) and what do I need to know? Any advice and/or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Luke
Probably be better to take it to a profesional. Cheeper too. Most powder coating buisness have in house sand blasting, and will do blasting without powder coating the pieces. This has been the best route for me.
In the end its much cheaper to have it done. Its also your health that suffers if you dont buy lots of expensive equipment. 2 younger guys around here have died from exposer in the last 12 year around these parts.
I bought the Eastwood combo sandblast / soda blast system. Works good with sand but a pita with soda. I wouldn't recomment this set-up for soda. Just about any of the pressure pot blasters work pretty good but they need alot of air and a moisture seperator or you're wasting your time. Large body panels and sand blasting don't usually go well together, a good chance you'll warp the panel. These should be media blasted by a pro or stripped by hand Get a good respirator, hood , gloves and lots of duct tape to seal up your pantlegs and shirt sleeves, that crap will be everywhere Silica sand is toxic so beware of it
This is exactly why I am here asking. I need info. I am completely aware of the health reprocussions of inhaling waste sand, rust and various paints. I have also seen the expert stripping abilities of 2 shops in my area, both of which produced undesireable results such as warpage and poor strip.
I just got one from here, Brut Manufacturing: http://pressurized-sand-blasters.brutmfg.com/ They make a great product and are more than willing to answer any and all questions you have about blasting. Give them a call- (888) 533-2693 And the best part-- they are made in the USA!
I have a sanblasting nozzle/head that I attatch to my pressure washer, it uses the water to siphon sand up from a bucket. It works about 2- 3 times faster than a medium size sand blaster, does'nt cause any warpage, and uses a lot less sand. It also does'nt put out any sand/ dust to breathe. I bought mine from northern tool for about $75.
I have done commercial sand blasting, bridges, buildings large vessels etc.. 1st things first safety..dont cut your self short here, get the right gear..its just like being serious about building a safe Hot Rod..do it right or stay on the porch and let those that have the tools help you out. If your going to get serious about it or not Get the right set up for breathing fresh air and at a positive feed , that way no dust enters the hood. get a filter too so you dont get shit from your compressor, one that is designed for " breathable air" I wear a dust mask too inside my hood, and ear plugs. next is good foot ware and possibly heavy rubber boots and rubber gloves and a good coveralls On warping panels..its all in technique..feed, air pressure and media used..and tallent there is an older guy up my way that is an artisan with sandblasting...he was asked to sand blast a mercedes body worth 300,000 bucks (i saw it) gull wing thing i forget the numbers something like 300 ? anyways tallent you only develop knowing and practice of a worthy skill I bet he made good money doing this, he has a real nice set up
Buy lots of CFM for those big projects, trust me If it were me doing it again all over, I'd buy a used, outdated trailer mounted jack hammer compressor. I did have a 1922 Ingersol Rand with a 4 cyl gas running a huge twin pump when I blasted a complete 10 wheeler big truck. It was putting out roughly 38 CFM at 80 psi running a 3/16 nozzle with a TIP brand 60 pound capacity blaster. A unit from the 50s or so would be maybe triple that, or at least double. Nobody wants those old ones, so you may get one cheap. Now I run two electrics ganged up. They never shut off with a 3/32 nozzle. I had to run fans on both electric motors on hot days because the thermal switches were kicking out! A blast box is really great and very convienent for small stuff, but don't try to do wheels and bulky parts because you will lose so much time moving the part around to see what you are blasting...that gets tedious. Do that stuff outside to go fast and sunlight is your friend when chasing pitted metal. Bigger grained sand for heavy tractor paint and finer sand for getting into cratered pits. Been doing it 40 years, I hate it soooo much, but can't wait around a week for a shop to do parts when I need it that day.
Probably cheaper to get it done by someone. If you are determined, make sure you have a lot of CFM. A Quincy qt-10, or 15 compressor would work for a nice blast cabinet. Their is a company here in Quincy, IL that does Soda blasting. Good/expensive if you don't want to warp the body. You can spend a lot of money to get set up right. A few thousand between compressor, cabinet, etc.. for new. There is a lot of used equipment out there right now.
Something to consider is check your area first for a supplier of blasting quality sand.You can't use just any sand.I was buying mine locally for my hobby size blaster but last year the EPA made my supplier stop selling blasting sand.They are trying to protect me from myself again.There is no supplier in my area that I have found yet so I can't do small stuff.A blaster won't do you any good if you can't buy the media for it.
you need a real good air dryer and or refridigter or you will be unclogging the blaster every minute or so let me tell ya about frustrating! my guy in town works for a buck a minute and i did a comparison and his was cheaper than buying the sand and much nicer job, your pump will also take a beating. good luck tho
I bought a blast pot from SAN BLAST, they are made in the USA also. have a 2 phase, 80 gallon compressor that puts out 11.3 cfm at 175psi and 11.9 at 100 psi. The thing runs non-stop while I'm blasting. I have blasted the entire frame, under side and interior of my 50' merc, and the interior of the 51' pick up, along with parts that you just can't leave rust on. I don't use band aids (POR-15). Get a good respirator, SHAVE, and make sure its the right size. Enjoy. Cost me around $400, it's the 99er, holds 90lbs. of sand.
these comments may not help, they're true. I've got a cabinet blaster that hasn't been used by me (a friend used it once) in nearly 10 years and a portable tank blaster that I use to hit little spot stufff with, but whole cars or big parts get sent out to a local pro--even if you have to drive a couple of hours it worth IMO. You'll spend more on media and frustration than you'll save in the long-run unless you plan to open a business.
do you have a compressor now? that you have to stop once every so often to let the pressure build back up is pretty normal, a pressure pot you can put one bag in is all you will need, the top of the pot should be like a funel and the cap should be like an inverted cork/stopper, usely there made of aluminum and have a large o-ring to seal and a T handle, blasting outside sucks, you will go through 10 times the media you should, blasting inside allows you to resuse your media, i know you can run the media over and over till its down to a fine fine powders that wont cut anything, that what a really good blast cabinet does.
I know this is considered wrong here but, I use an abrasive blaster from Harbor Freight that I got at a yard sale. portable type that has wheels. powered by 5 HP 30 gal tank Craftsman. use fine sand from HF and never have had a problem with damage to fenders, etc. don't do this inside because it will make a mess. I always put parts or car on a tarp to cut down on mess a little. cover your head, etc with proper eye protection, etc. just take your time. I also use a HF blast cabinet that I use fine bead in from HF. my two cents
I have a 90# pressure pot I bought from Northern Tools. For big stuff HERE I rent a compressor for the weekend (Sat-Sun=1 day) for $95. I don't run out of air. I still have to deal with water condensing in the mixing valve and stopping up which is a major PIA. Sand from Home Depot and Lowes has to be sifted to get the gravel out, blasting sand from an abrasive supply is more expensive but faster, no sifting. Get a quality respirator and ear plugs. Welding gloves are a good idea too.
Get the biggest set up you can afford I occasionally use the one at my work that is presser fed and holds 500 lbs of sand and its still a pain to stop and refill. Big portable (for jack hammers) compressor is the only way. Obviously a fresh air hood and charcoal filter. IMO small setups are a joke if your trying to strip big stuff. If you cant afford to get the real deal have it done
At my old shop I built a sandblast room. It was 12’x24’x8’ and made in 4x8’ sections bolted together so I could assemble/disassemble whenever needed. Made from 2x4’s. On the inside I put bright white fiberglass panels on the walls. The roof was just clear sheet plastic to make it brighter inside. For the floor I laid out a blue tarp before putting the building up. The one end was hinged so I could get whatever needed blasting in and out. In each end was a big box fan for air circulation. The one end lined up with a window opening to which I built a box from the room to the window. On the inside I put a cheap furnace filter before the fan. I wired the fans to a switch just outside the door. I also built a “sled” for me to lay on while blasting with four pivoting casters. It also had two work lights attached so I could see. Worked like a charm. For the sand pot I used an old metal hopper I found at the dump that I modified. Held about 200lbs of sand. The shop had a 50hp compressor so dry air wasn’t an issue. Definitely purchase a good quality fresh air hood. I also bought a box of disposable coveralls which worked well. Only took a couple of hours to do the underbody. The only bad thing was when everyone found out I had it…
Best advice, regarding sand/media blasting. That is, unless your goals are other than practical ones, At the last job before I retired the boss decided he wanted us to do all of our own blasting. Heavy equipment, food equipment, mixers, etc. The bean counter was against it, but sprung for the money, putting the operation on a 'Pay-go' account. Purchased a good used high volume 440V compressor, set up in the yard with minimal structure, re-cycled the media, etc, and guess what? A year later the cost of the operation ended up costing more than the previous year where we farmed that type of work out. Including the benefit that before, the blaster guy picked up and delivered the parts to be blasted. To make a profit, that equipment needs to be running, not sitting idle.
Fwiw, I've installed refractory gunite and refractory plastic gunite in many, many industrial furnaces back when I worked for APGreen Refractories, Mexico, MO. It's no different than sand blasting or shotcreting except the stuff I used stuck to the walls and floors of industrial furnaces. Pastic refractory gunning was done hooked up to at least a 750 cfm portable air compressor by using a 2" air hose with the compressor set at 125 psi and we throttled it down to whatever pressure and voilume we needed to get the job done shooting out of at least a 1.375" or 1.5" diameter material hose. Sucker would surge and left you right off your feet just like a cobra strikes!! Hunt up a junk Allentown single tank gunite machine and convert it over to sand blasting and use at least a 375 cfm portable A/C as an air source AND throttle it at the gunite machine down until you get the feel of it to make it do what you weant and NOT warp sheet metal! Here is a link to what I'm talking about EXCEPT the O-series are single tank batch guns! http://www.allentownshotcrete.com/products/gunning/n-type.cfm pdq67
Yikes ! ...you'd have to use a 1/2" nozzle to get the PSI down to under 100 .. I can picture Red Green using that much air and blowing the body clear across the yard
In light of the safety issues involved, I've decided to take smokey3550's advice and I ordered a nozzle and gun from Northern Tool that fits to a pressure washer. After I read smokey's post, I searched the interweb and found some great examples and DIY video's. For the safety minded of you, I will still be using a respirator and face shield. I plan on building a large 2x4 or 2x6 frame and stapling a tarp into it (think really short kiddie-pool) to catch the sand and waste I'll post updates and pics as progress allows. Luckilly I have lots of scrap bodywork to practice on before I start on the $ parts. Thanks to everyone for the advice and info. Luke