Guys , we have a "donated" blaster cabinet , that we just can't get to work worth a s--t , "gun" has lots of air pressure , feed hose is buried in sand , porcelain nozzle hole looks about 3/16 dia , just can't get it to pick/flo's sand , what are we missing ?? , or doing wrong ?? ,,, really appreciate the help ,,,,, be glad to e-mail some pic's of the set-up , jim p ....
A sandblaster usually needs to pick up some air as well as sand. Most have a hole in the side of the pickup tube, make sure that isn't buried in the sand. Also the obvious, make sure the hose isn't plugged.
as kevin said and make sure the nozzle is in correctly. if it is in too far it will be blocking the pickup hole. to check for best nozzle position take the pickup hose off the gun and blow air with your finger over the pickup hole, it should be pulling vaccume. vacuume. how ever you spell that damn word. it should suck. good luck
Keep in mind that virtually all the parts that actually handle the sand eventually wear out from abrasion and need to be replaced...basically they are considered "consumables". You may simply have a nozzle, orifice, or pickup tube that is done. Also, some guns have different size nozzles/orifices to work with smaller compressors. If it has a high-volume nozzle setup, it won't work too well with a little compressor. I assume the sand is relatively dry....? Try "blocking" the nozzle for a few seconds with your glove while pulling the trigger, and see if if it works after doing so (if only for a few seconds). If that's the case, you have wet or clogged sand, or the pickup is functioning poorly.
On mine the feeder tube does clog. Holding my finger over the nozzle uses the air pressure to blow the obstruction out the feeder hose. The blaster requires both PRESSURE and VOLUME. Make certain your compressor has enough balls to do the job. HTH! Glenn
If you store the sand bank above the cabinet it will flow easier(if you have followed the above Brother's advice !)-store it near a heat source too. Also-a slight amount of talc or baby powder is a good DRY LUBRICANT to help flow. Good Luck-Fly
I'd get a gauge that reads in PSIs One guys "lots of" is not necessarily the same as others. If you are using builders sand, it could be damp. Check the pickup hose carefully for a crack or pin hole.
[it should be pulling vaccume. vacuume. how ever you spell that damn word. it should suck. good luck[/QUOTE] all good advice, can't really add anything that hasn't been said, i just thought this was funny first thing in the morning!!
I also find my cabinet works better if I lower the presure to about 90 PSI, it doesn't pick up sand as well at higher pressures.
I just fixed the same problem on mine this week. It was getting worse over time and just stopped working altogether. Turns out the metal pickup tube has a slight bend at the top where the hose for the gun connects and the abrasive over time wore a hole thru from the inside out where I couldn't see it until the pickup tube was removed. Repaired the hole and it works better than it has in months.
beware of silicosis if you use builders sand. Best medium is glass beads or garnet. Alloy parts come up nice and white looking with glass, they go a grey colour with garnet. Medium must be DRY. I made a cabinet from my mum's old washing machine. Pick up tube sat in the vee of the trough, a plastic condiut with 1/4" holes along the length. Works great. At least 80 PSI at the gun, blasters use lots of volume. If your compressor is small, your blaster will suck the juice. BTW it's vacuum, but you really need negative pressure - and yes, there IS a difference.
Sand blasters require lots of volume, AKA cfm. Minimum is around 7 cfm at 80 or 90 psi. most air compressors are rated for X cfm @ X psi. so at 40 psi a compressor may be rated for 12 cfm but at 90 psi it may only be rated at 5 cfm. Best would be at least 12 cfm at 90 psi
Is there any way one of you guys could post a picture showing the proper placement of the siphon tube into the blast media? I'm just starting to learn about blasting and would appreciate any help in getting this right. I'm using a 5 gal. bucket to keep my crushed glass media in. Thanks.
we just push it in top of the media and let it draw it thru the gun just make sure all the ports in the gun are clean , and the media and air is dry ..
Everything in my TIP gun looked ok but blasted for shit.....bought a harbor freight gun and she works great again......go figure!
The gun I got with the HF cabinet, wore out quickly and then they changed the tips they sell, so instead got a set up from TP and I sized it to my compressor. The best thing that it is rebuild-able. Also AWAYS use proper media, not sand. I use a filter bag in my shopvac to remove the dust from inside the cabinet, so that it saves the vac motor.
I can't believe a harbor freight gun worked better than a TIP gun. My cabinet is a HF one, and the gun never really did work right. I replaced it with one from TIP, and the cabinet works 100% better
I bought a big used cabinet. Loaded it up with new media, garnet, and was really disappointed with it's performance. The gun would spit, sputter, work sometimes, then not at all. I bought a Scat Blast gun, new suction pipe, and suction tube from TP Tools and what huge night and day difference! I bought the foot pedal gun so I wouldn't have to trigger it but I just use a ball valve to turn it on and off. http://www.tptools.com/Foot-Pedal-Operated-Power-Gun,1024.html?b=d*8026
I've got a 100 lb pressure pot, there's about 20 places that sell basically the same one. I've never had good results with it. Tried filling all the way, half, barely, replaced a lot of parts, all different pressures. I have to shake it almost continuously, blast with 1 hand and shake the thing with the other. Any advice is appreciated before I throw it on the scrap pile.
In its a moisture problem you have to have a great dryer for the compressor ( we use a semi truck air dryer set up its cheaper and better than the ones they sell at the hardware store and paint shop , then run the air to a secondary tank afterwords to cool it to make it dry .. also dry sand is what you need , our pressure pot did the same thing till we took a old garbage Jitterbug sander and strapped it to the side of the pot to shake it , the sand was making a cone in the center , then we found out the sand had a high clay content ( yellow sand ) and was packing , we bought the white wendron sand ( from out by lasalle and you can get it at a pool place ) and the packing and sticking went away , but you could not reuse it even after screening it would bind together from the paint and rust .. garnet and black beauty never gave us problems
I used to own a bunch of big vacuum trucks. Some would suck up bricks through their eight inch diameter hoses. I used to teach my employees that there really is no such thing as vacuum or suction. What we are really doing is creating a void which natural atmospheric pressure tries to rush into. When the weather service says the barometric pressure is 29" of mercury (Hg) that is the pressure we are under. The baddest ass vacuum pump in the world can not exceed that's, because all the bad ass pump can do is empty the space for the atmosphere to enter. So that equals about 14 PSI. That's all you have pushing sand up the hose. "PUSHING"! Remember, there is no vacuum! Now, on a pressure pot, theoretically, if you used a SCUBA tank you could push sand up the hose (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME) with thousands of pounds of pressure. I made my sand blaster using an old propane tank and push my luck with 120 PSI. The pressure drops pretty fast even with a 100 gallon compressor tank because it uses a whole lot of air. I don't use a gun. I just stick one of those ceramic tips in the end of a rubber hose and hose clamp it. That way there is less clogging and not much to wear out. I use black beauty blast media from Tractor Supply. I use a sand blast helmet/mask, a dust mask and a big fan to blow any dust away from me. You'll learn to wear heavy gloves and long sleeves too. Keep your media dry and your air dry. I use two tanks to help separate moisture and in humid weather I run cold well water from my garden hose over a beach towel laid over the second tank to cool the air and reduce moisture.
Good feedback, I've used this in the summer and middle of winter (humidity very low). Tried several grit of black beauty blasting sand (tractor supply). I'll get some new sand, drag it out next time I'm at the shop and see if I can get it running. Should be after thanksgiving cold enough for low humidity.
yea try to cool the air then dry it , if you can find a old 20 gallon compressor tank ( blown up pump ) plumb the line to it with copper to help disapate the heat, run it in the side then tap off the top of the top or opposite side of the tank . and drain both tanks daily ! thats a must .
I have a ball valve inside my cabinet ( and outside as well) to limit incoming air. Depending on the condions in the atmosphere and how long my compressors have been running i can change the airflow easily. In certain conditions it will siphon up more sand with less cfm and works very well. When i shut the air off completely the sand will still flow slowly out the end when conditions are right. I also plug the end with my rubber glove to unclog One thing for sure , nothing about media blasting is easy. One day I am going to set up a dryer fan into a 55 gallon cyclone to deal with all the nasty dust. Another plan is to mount a vibrating motor on the side to help flow. Anyone know a good source for them , other than concrete tools?
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