Bigger Sand Blaster

[carmen]

I have a small stand alone presure sand blaster and it works all right, but I want something a little bigger and FASTER. What do you guys recommend and if I get a bigger blaster what kind of air compressor do I need?

I also have a small cabin blaster but I just can't seem to get it to push out enought sand to do the job. Yes it will take off the paint and rust but at a very -very slowly.

Thanks

Carmen

 

[mdlbldrmatt135]

RE: Bigger Snad Blaster

Try using "Black Beauty" it's more agressive than Sand................

 

[supermechanic]

How does one blast with 'snad'?

(sorry,I couldn't resist it.)

Seroiusly, a pressure pot is what pros use, and for good reason.
The little syphon units are only useful for spot blasting,if you already have a pressure feed unit,try a bigger nozzle, I use a 3/16"nozzle, some times a 1/4" nozzle.
Mine will hold 300 pounds of sand.
I use a jack hammer compressor.
If you can't justify buying a big pot,save all your blasting till you have enough to make renting a commercial unit a good proposition.
Get bagged 'double O' blasting sand.
Don't waste time trying to sift and recycle, unless your time is free,sand is cheap enough.
Supplied air respirator is the only way to go, unless you already have bad lungs and don't care.

 

[DDoyle]

Everything supermechanic has said is dead on in my experience.

Regards,
David

 

[jasonjc]

To move more sand you need alot more air. Like supermechanic said a big diesel aircompressor is needed for anything bigger than one of those 10-20 gal size blaters that you get at a place like HF. And even those need a good 7 1/2HP or better aircompreesor. Well I should say a 20-30 CFM out put air compreesor. The HP rating on alot of compreesor are miss leading , hell my shop vac is a "6 hp". The bigger the nozzel the more air you need.

 

[ygmir]

I use a sandblaster to carve granite, have for years. I make tombstones.
I've found you need 80 cfm @ 120 lbs to run a 1/8" nozzle at pressure.
as the nozzle wears larger, the pressure will go down........unless you have more cfm than needed anyway.
I use a 150 cfm compressor, then, I can use the nozzles longer.......it just uses more sand........
I use 20/30 grit blast media.
It'll cut fast with most anything.
The sharper edges and heavier, the better.
Garnet has been the fastest I've used, but, it's pretty expensive.
You can, however, reclaim it...........
watch for moisture/oil. it plugs things up fast.........

Good luck,
Henry

 

[Sarge]

Snad blasting

I had my snads blasted in Hong Kong 30 years ago.
Very painful.
Penicillin was the answer!
(It's a joke)
hee-hee
-Sarge

 

[jeli]

RE: Snad blasting

The old Whos whosler had the biggest snad blaster of them all but it was taken by the Grinch and given to the Lorax to refinsh his pots and pans to make more green eggs and ham!!!!

 

[carmen]

Sand is now fixed.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to know is if I spend the money on a bigger blaster should I get a bigger air compressor?

 

[Sarge]

Bigger blaster?

Okay, now we're serious.
What size is your current compressor?
CFM is the most important question, PSI is the next most important question.
Also, how big a blaster do you need/want?
Any good blaster you buy will have the CFM requirements on it, or in it's book. The seller of the blaster can tell you how many CFM it requires.
Be advised, really big CFM compressors cost a lot of cash.
How much blasting do you plan on doing?
I blast frequently, but rarely do I blast entire vehicles. There are a few tricks to getting better performance out of a blaster.
Use bigger air hose. Don't use 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch, the air cannot get from your tank to the blaster fast enough. 1/2 inch is the minimum, 1 inch is ideal.
Use 1 inch PVC pipe (rated to at least double your PSI output) from the compressor to the blaster. It's very cheap. At both ends of the 1 inch pipe use 1 inch hose from Home Depot rated at at least 200PSI.
Another trick to use if your blaster is a long distance from your compressor is to use a remote tank next to your blaster. An old 80 gallon tank from a blown up compressor works well, I use one of those portable 11 gallon tanks with 1/2 inch quick disconnects.
Blasting is all about air delivery.
The closer the blaster is to a large air source, the better.
The larger the hoses, the better.
If you store enough air close to the blaster, you can get away with a smaller compressor, just realize that you are going to be taking breaks if the compressor is rated at less CFM than the blaster requires.
Last but not least; SAFETY FIRST.
A good rule of thumb working with compressed air is to buy hoses, fittings etc. with 2 to 3 times the max PSI output of the compressor.
Did that answer any of your qustions?
-Sarge out

 

[johhnyx]

RE: Bigger blaster?

Instead of blasting, has anyone tried the electrolysis method of rust removal?
I have had good success with it. If you're removing rust on the vehicle, you need to get a bit creative with
rigging a tarp around it to submerse it in the solution. And I've found a good 24V power supply works must faster than a battery charger approach. But I've cleaned some large steel pieces that end up looking very nice, with no mess of sand, just let it sit overnight.
John

 

[Sarge]

RE: Bigger blaster?

johhnyx, tell us more!
Do you have a link to a web page describing this method?
Photo's?
It sounds really interesting.
And.....
Welcome to Steel Soldiers!
Do you have MV's? What?
-Sarge

 

[gimpyrobb]

RE: Bigger blaster?

Sarge, start here and then do a search on google.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

 

[redass73]

RE: Bigger blaster?

does the electrolisis remove any paint or dirt. or just the rust?
rick