Your Best Sandblasting Tips and Advice

bgott · Mar 1, 2003

One trick I've seen people use to prep old tractors for painting is to spray them down with spray gasket remover before pressure washing. It does a good job of removing loose and crappily applied paint. If you are trying to remove rust, have you tried naval jelly? Thinking about it further, is naval jelly still available?

ScottAR · Mar 1, 2003

<font color="blue">You do not want to get hit with water at pressures as low as 2000#, it HURTS and eats meat. </font>

This reminds me of a story. I once talked to a guy that worked in a power station with lots of high pressure piping for water/steam. When they had a leak, they would wave a bristle broom in front of them along the pipes and when the bristles magically fell off, they found it. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I think about that anytime I have to repair the hoses on the tractor or the airless painter.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 1, 2003

Naval Jelly is Phosphoric Acid, water, and gelatin with some pink coloring.
Right now there is someone selling a product called De-Oxy-Does-It on Epay that they claim to be a phosphoric concentrate, but they don't give any specs.

You can also use a tannic acid process for rust conversion, and if you can borrow a few hundred tea bags, you can make it yourself.

OkieG · Mar 8, 2003

The "Sandblasting Kit" from Northern arrived a couple days ago. It looks sturdy and it fits on the pressure washer wand well enough, but I can't seem to get a good flow of sand to come through the plastic tubing. Has anyone else tried one of these?

Even though there is not a cloud of silica dust, there is a mist formed that could be suspending the dust, so using a mask (or at least standing upwind) is probably still a good idea.

OkieG

dourobob · Mar 8, 2003

I will be interested in what you find out - also, will something other than sand (i.e.- Black Beauty) work in this attachment?

Bob

micromike · Mar 8, 2003

The only thing I know from my experience is that the sand must be absolutely dry to flow through the tube or it will clog right up. Also, their are different tip sizes on a sand blaster depending on what medium you are using. Is there a tip where the sand meets the water? Can you post a picture of your outfit? I'd be interested in seeing how it works. Tia.

Mike

RanchMan · Mar 8, 2003

OkieG -

<font color="blue">Even though there is not a cloud of silica dust, there is a mist formed that could be suspending the dust, </font>

Yes, there is silica in that there mist. Even though combining it with H20 makes it safer, it is by no means "safe." Additionally, there will be microscopic H20/silica particles you can't see (aerosols) that are generated. Continue to wear your breathing protection or you could have serious problems down the road. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

WCarlson · Mar 9, 2003

My experience is involved with the painting of ships preparing for the rigors of salt water exposure. The rules of the BUSHIPS Manual are to immediately acid wash all bare metal, then cover with two coats of primer, then get a finish coat (enamel) on within 24 hours of the second primer coat. The second coat of enamel can wait for months. As pointed out in other spots in this thread: Rust starts instantly as soon as any ferric compond is exposed to oxygen. Primer does not seal from oxygen, it allows the finish coat of paint to adhere to the metal. The finish coat seals out the air. In the case of the weights, I don't know if I would reblast, I think I would just do the yellow, however, when the rust begins to show, and it will, I would redo as per the above.

Bill

paulaortnersr · Mar 12, 2003

you can pick up a ingersol 125psi / 10.3 cfm compressor from Harbor Freight or Tractor Supply for under $500. I bought mine from HF for $389.00 /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif