Sandblaster buying

TCBoomer · Mar 12, 2008

sunspot said:
I was looking/hoping for a tank and gun combo that was already matched. Farmwithjunk gave me a tip to look at the Clarke tanks at Tractor Supply. It asks for a 6-25 CFM compressor.
Clarke Tank
My use will be all outdoors. I have rust all over the place.

Egon. Thanks for the ballpark. That's what I was asking for. About $200 sounds reasonable for the tank.

Take a look at Texas Blaster and anyone give an opinion. $350 sans compressor. The 3/32 nozzle wants 8 CFM. I think that will be an expensive compressor.

Pilemonkey. Thanks for that tip but I'm not set up to do much metalworking. I have a small torch and a small drill press.

Wedge, I had thought of reclaiming medium but I'm guessing it should not be done.

You can reclaim the medium as long as you screen out the junk. But the more you reuse it, the finer it becomes...ie- less effective

Bird · Mar 12, 2008

I'm willing to spend up to $400. Is this possible? I really dislike sanding and wire brushing.

Dana, in years past, I've owned a one quart sandblaster that looked much like a one quart paint gun and I used it with a one hp, 20 gallon compressor. Even though I had to stop really frequently to refill the can with sand, I also still had to wait on the compressor to catch up at times. Later, I had a 100# siphon feed, Craftsman, sandblaster that worked pretty well, not great, but pretty well, and I promptly ruined an oilless 3.5 hp, 30 gallon air-compressor.

So, yes, for $400 you can probably get a very small rig that will do very small jobs very slowly.

But chances are pretty good that you'll be disappointed in it.

Incidentally CFM = cubic feet per minute and SCFM = standard cubic feet per minute and if there's a difference in them, I don't know what it is.

john_bud · Mar 12, 2008

Bird said:
Incidentally CFM = cubic feet per minute and SCFM = standard cubic feet per minute and if there's a difference in them, I don't know what it is.

The temperature it is measured at. If all they quote is CFM and not SCFM, you know a lying marketing weasle wrote the words and they are not to be trusted.

I have a 100# pressure blaster that was about $350 12 years ago. One tip is that you make a window screen sieve and screen out the large chunks from the sand or you will be breaking down the equipment often.

You really need about 15 scfm at 175 psi for and entry. Yeah, i used a 3 hp 20 gal compressor at first and it "worked". Sort of. when the air was full.

But when the pressure drops below about 80 psi the cutting action drops super fast and all you are doing is making dust.

Speaking of dust. Did you know that silicosis is a condition caused by breathing sand dust? The dust gets in your lungs and hardens up like cement and no O2 can pass from lung to blood. It's a bad deal, so wear a respairator, not just a dust mask.

jb

em14 · Mar 12, 2008

What are you planning to clean by blasting? As john_bud said .... if you are willing to blast a small amount then wait some time while your compressor rebuilds the lost pressure you can use a small compressor ... it's all about the pressure and the cfm required and the ability to deliver it. Craig list is a good place to look for air compressors and blasters when you get ready to buy ... I have a 5hp 220 v 20+(the mfr claims) cfm 2-stage compressor with an 80 gal. tank that I use for everything in the shop .... I have sand blasted car frames and it took sometime to do one, but I did not have to wait for the compressor to rebuild the tanks air supply. I also use a bead cabinet a lot as I find it is much more convenient to use for the smaller stuff. Before I got this I used a Sears 3 hp portable and one of their little siphon sand blasters and it was just too small for most things I needed to do. It boils down to what do you expect to accomplish and what trade offs you are willing to except. Blasting,as you said, beats the daylights out of a wire brush most times. ... remember that sand has got to be dry!
Leo

sunspot · Mar 12, 2008

So $400 is no good. That's information gained.
So a Texas Blaster=$400
Protective gear=$100
Compressor=$ ????

Bird and TCBoomer. I will not be using it on a continuous basis. The 2 stage pumps are a bit out of my reach at this time.
What do all of you think of a Porter Cable unit? $385.00
Or will a non-pressure fed unit be better?

John, I remember reading about the lung issues. I do not have any problem buying good safety equipment. Thanks for the reminder. Safety is first.

Em14, I have time to wait. I have a few farm implaments to clean up and about 200 of stair rail and about 100 sq ft of the stair risers to do. I don't have to do it all in a day.
BTW, Craigs is not used much in Birmingham. I tried it a number of times and gave up. At least for farm stuff. I'll give it a try for a compressor.

Bird · Mar 12, 2008

Dana, Porter Cable makes some good products, and admittedly most of my experience with oilless compressors were those made by DeVibiss, but I really don't think any oilless (or oil free) compressor will last long at all for sandblasting. Most of them warn against running them continuously for more than 10 minutes. Personally, I think you'd be wasting your money on that compressor if you tried to use it for sandblasting.

Egon · Mar 12, 2008

For those wanting to save their media you should be able to find plans for sandblasting cabinets or buy one. They are quite common.

SCFM is air at a designated temperature and moisture content used for reference point. I think?

wushaw · Mar 12, 2008

I am not a fan of oilless compressors, they are some noisy machines, I inherited one and some days I just wish it would give up so I can have a good reason to go ahead and get what I want.

On the budget you have I would still go with a oil type compressor. Hearing protection is not required with it running.

Bird · Mar 12, 2008

Egon said:
For those wanting to save their media you should be able to find plans for sandblasting cabinets or buy one. They are quite common.

SCFM is air at a designated temperature and moisture content used for reference point. I think?

You're right on both paragraphs, Egon. If all you're going to do is items small enough to fit into one of the cabinets, they're great. I had one that used glass beads instead of sand and when I was in the business of repairing air tools, it sure was handy for the things I couldn't clean with the wire wheel on the 6" bench grinder.. It was a pretty expensive cabinet, but in my case, it was provided to me at no cost by my brother.