Originally posted by oldcarandtrucknut:
I found out first hand that you must have a huge air compressor to do sandblasting. I have a 6.5 HP 60 gallon compressor and it wouldn't even begin to keep up when i bought a cabinet.... It was so bad it was either get a much bigger compressor or take the cabinet back to harbor freight...... I returned the cabinet. So, unless you have a huge compressor, don't waste your money on materials, take it to a pro.
The HP of your compressor doesn't seem to be as important as the output it can manage at a given PSI, and I've found you can "inflate" the output of a compressor by using a regulator - above a certain PSI you won't really notice a difference in how much the sand actually takes off.
I picked up a tecumseh powered 5-HP "Pow'r Profile" compressor that outputs 10.4 CFM @ 100 PSI, that has been more than enough to feed my craftsman blaster without me spending time waiting for the tanks to recharge. My experience has shown me that "taking it to a pro" costs enough that for a bit more you'd be paying for the equipment, and you can always recoup your investment further by renting it out to friends or doing paying work with it...
