sandblasting

   / sandblasting #1  

rmankty

Bronze Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2011
Messages
59
Tractor
1948 farmall cub
Hello, I have a 1hp craftsman air compressor 2.4CFM @ 90 psi. I am looking to buy a sandblasting kit in order to blast/spray clean sand into woodchuck tunnel. I have never used sandblaster for this purpose,any suggestions on kit? I might purchase a new air compressor if the one I have isnt really suitable.Thank you for suggestions!
 
   / sandblasting #2  
sand blasting requirs more cfm's than your current compressor puts out. You can try what you have but, you won't blow much sand @ 2.4 cfm's
 
   / sandblasting #4  
Yep - you need a LOT more CFM's to do any kind of sand "blasting" - to really do it you need a minimum of a 220v 2 stage compressor. Moving sand takes BIG CFM output. If it is a one time thing try renting a gas/diesel compressor - they put out massive CFM's and are great for high demand applications.
 
   / sandblasting #5  
This brought back thoughts of a time when I was a kid (a long time ago) when my father bought a sears compressor and a sandblast kit. We had a rusted round deck table, that he wanted to sandblast the rust off. Shoveling the beach sand into the hopper was easy, waiting for the compressor to pump up to took forever, after a week of blasting, had almost a quarter of the table top done. He bought a couple of wire wheels for a drill motor to finish the top in a half hour. This was over 45 years ago, but I don't think that things have changed much. I now have a 5 hp 230v compressor outside the shop, dual stage, with a 200 gallon tank, I think that it is in the 18-24 CFM range at 120 Psi, and I think that it might not keep up with a sandblaster.
 
   / sandblasting #6  
I'm with the other guys, you need volume (CFM) more than PSI.

I have ran my 80#pressure pot with a 100 gal 15cfm with "OK" results, but wouldn't want to do a large job with it. I now use a AtlasCapco 185cfm pull behind compressor with a 300# pot, there is no comparison with that much CFM's

If the work is really small, you "may" get by with a cheap siphon, but you'll likely overwork your little compressor.
 
   / sandblasting #7  
   / sandblasting #8  
Those cheap sand blasting kits go through tips pretty quickly. If you have much work to do, you'll need a spare tip. When the tip gets worn, it takes more CFM to move the sand with the same blasting power. Actually, with the cheap model I owned, you had to really suit-up in long sleeves and tape any openings on your clothes shut. I had a full face mask and respirator mask too. Still, I had to get so close to my work that the face mask's plastic shield got blasted by rebound sand and fogged so badly I could hardly see what I was doing. It was one of the most miserable jobs I ever did and I ended up wondering if the tractor wheels I was blasting were worth all the trouble.:rolleyes:
 
   / sandblasting #9  
It all depends on time, labor and finances.

I had a buddy while I was in college in Vt. He bought an old rusty SMALL MG. He was often not working. He took most of the summer restoring it. He sandblasted with a small (<2hp) blaster and about a 10 gal tank. He'd let it build up pressure, lay a door in the driveway on a plastic sheet. Then spray till the tank went low.

He had plenty of time and labor, just not much finances.

Did a beautiful job, but took a long time.
 
   / sandblasting #10  
Have a look at DIY Sandblasting - Tutorial

They suggest a 3 mm nozzle will work on a larger domestic electric compressor - but as others have said, higher volumes of sand and bigger nozzles require a more powerful compressor - like the diesel engined ones used by road menders digging up the road with jackhammers that deliver 100cfm plus.

Also, don't forget the safety gear - and that some types of abrasive may be illegal (they are over here) as they cause silicosis.

J
 
 
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