The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Another failed attempt at sand blasting.

Or…if you’re thinking about sand blasting out back of the garage, you should really think
twice. I think I’ve gone off on this rant before, but I thought I’d give it one more try.
If I’ve got one, I’ve got ten, projects around the barn and basement that have been waiting
for blasting to remove rust and old chipped paint before I can finish them up.
A couple of old Singers, and a couple of old Stanley planes, a nice old Walker Turner 10”
table saw, a Buffalo hand crank drill press, that two bottom plow. Bunches of cleaned
engine parts ready for glass bead blasting, and the list goes on and on.
My past attempts at pressure pot blasting were dismal failures. My Harbor Freight 100lb
pressure pot, the same import that Eastwood, and Northern Tool and all the other importers
sell, has always been a wasted effort racked with frustration. Five minutes of blasting with
ten minutes of disassembly to clear clogs. Then there was the half dozen different guns
which wore out after a half hour worth of use. About eight or ten years ago, based on a
suggestion from one of the bolters here, I picked up a gravity feed siphon pot from the farm
supply. That at least worked, well a little. Took me an hour to set up tarps and get
air lines run out back of the barn and hooked up to the blaster and my hood. And that
hood!!!!! Went thru two before spending about a $150 on the best one I could find short of a
thousand dollar professional hood. Northern Tool again, even with the air line that hangs
inside the hood, it fogs up so bad from your breathing that you have to stop and undress
every few minutes and shake the sand out of the cheesy lens and your hair. And talk about
hot, anything over 68°F and you sweat a quart an hour under there. So….after all of that
another hour an half to blast the little body of the drill press and even then there was still
some paint that needed more. Then there was the cleanup and sifting sand back into the
pot.
Wanted to do some delicate parts with soda so some time ago I’d bought a pressure soda
blaster from, you guessed it…..Harbor Freight, you’d think I would have learned by now.
Bought the big one, sells now for $170 or $140 on sale. Made a nice cart to hold it and a
couple of buckets of soda. Modified the cheesy lines it came with and made up quick
couplers to it was easy to take apart and load. Threads on the top were so poorly made I
had to make up special wrenches to take it apart and even then they were so tight I could
barely get them tight. After all of that, the only way any soda would come out of the tiny
nozzle was to constantly shake the bottle with one hand while trying to aim the nozzle with
the other, did I say tiny nozzle??? The tiny bit that came out of the end wasn’t even enough
to remove mild surface rust or stains and the pattern was about the
Size of a pencil mark. So…..then I tried my little $50 hand held Speed Blaster with the soda.
Couldn’t even get it to suck any soda from its hopper and blew soda out of its vent hole.
Well I gave up on the soda also.
Bout 10 years back I bought a small bench top cabinet from, once again, Harbor Freight
Spent many hours trying to get it sealed up. Rubber weather sealed all the doors, added a
light inside. Ground up two Shop-Vacs before I gave up on that piece of crap which I put
out for the garbage man one Tuesday, along with the Vacuum’s that it ruined.

I know what a good blast cabinet can do, and what a pleasure it is to use one. I’ve spent
hundreds of hours in front of good ones. If I ever find the room for a good TP Tools Scat
blaster I’ll get one of those with a good professional filter and shaker.
In the mean time I'll have to put those projects back on the
shelf again and wait for a better day.

Denny Graham
Sandblasted out, in Sandwich, IL

I've had modest success with my pressure pot. I seem to be able to blast for 10 minutes and then I need to let my small compressor catch up. It clogs now and then. I found it clogs less if I don't open the media valve all the way. Maybe just half way. I keep a pick tool in my pocket and jam it into the nozzle when it clogs and that works half of the time. I so make sure to stop all air flow before I release the dead man on the working end. That prevents pressure from building in the hose which can complicate things by compacting the media.
I also have a cheaper table top cabinet. It's a one piece molded plastic version with a lift lid on the top. Not big enough but it will do small stuff.

The only problem I have with my HF pressure pot is it eats brass shutoff valves. The trick is #1 Silica Sand. About the consistency of fine sugar. No clogging ever, but don't do it on a very high humidity day.

That said, the HF pot doesn't look anything like it did when I purchased it. The water trap was crap, the hose was crap, the shutoffs were crap, the only thing that I kept was the steel. When I got finished, it was a world class tool. But, not without spending about the same I paid for it for upgrades. I also had to get more of the seals that go around the fill cap.

After that, its ALL good. But I keep saying it and will until I come down with Silicosis, #1 Silica Sand is $6 for 80 pounds, its SAND, and it works best on very delicate stuff providing you turn down the pressure. In my blast cabinet, I can even preserve the zinc coating if things are not too badly rusted. If its the disease you are concerned about, wear a respirator. I wonder if the odds of getting Silicosis are better with people living near the coasts? Its SAND!

"I wonder if the odds of getting Silicosis are better with people living near the coasts? Its SAND!"

Sand is a lot different from dust.

Wear a mask around dust from silica/sand blasting.

I see Denny has supplied air, but what do the others use? Are the half masks OK under a blasting hood?

Dennis

Again, I've had my skat blast cabinet for 12 years. Man I love that thing and, Denny, you can still buy the exact model I have for very FEW dollars more than I paid back then.

I to learned the hard way. My pressure blaster came from Tractor Supply. I used it to blast two chassis and, well, yes, they are a piece of crap. If it don't go in my blasting cabinet it goes to someone else to blast.

..Oh, I sold the blaster for a 100 bucks and smiled as I put the money in my pocket. Oh how I wish I could have gotten some revenge and sold it to an enemy Boy, wouldn't that be sweet, but, oh, I don't have any enemies? yeah right.

I believe your the guy to blame for talking me into that
siphon pot Alvin. Even went to Tractor Supply a few years
back to get it. I gotta say, it was a lot less trouble than
those crappy pressure pots. But if I'd have had a cabinet, all
those projects waiting in the wings would have been cleaned up
and painted and in use right now.

When I was a working man, we always had blast cabinets
everywhere I worked. All equipped with good filters with
shakers for cleaning the bags.
The Scat Blast that I've had my eye on for a few years now is
the 1536. A lot more money but I could get a fender or door
or more in that one with added door extensions. And it comes
with the good filter.
1536 Scat Blaster
All I need to do is find the room for it in the barn.

dg

I dread doing anything outside. It means dragging everything out, setting everything up, and then having sand in places you don't even know about for weeks after. That 1536 is really nice. I have been drooling over that one for awhile now. The pricetag has me wondering why I dont get off my duff and make a custom one. The answer is always because nobody makes them better than TP and my small TP one will last forever.

...and Denny, I still have a new gravity feed in the corner of my shop. Only use was a neighbor who did a fender outside.
I'm sticking by what I said...if it wont' fit in the skat blast it goes somewhere else. I may be getting old but surely I've gotten a little wiser. Denny, use the money to let the other guys do the big stuff while you stay home and work on some smaller projects. In the end its all Good!

I'm also sticking with what Alvin said, " . . . if it won't' fit in the skat blast it goes somewhere else."

I have an accommodating industrial blaster 4 miles away (lucky me). It was cheaper to have them blast big parts, with the right media at the right pressure, than it is for me to buy media (alumina/plastic media mix).

Luckily, all my big-part blasting in done. My wide TP skat blast cabinet (and "exhaust air" filter system) will be transported to NC in our last moving van. As Alvin posted, it's all good.

Advice to people looking for a local blaster: look for an industrial blaster AND/OR look for a gravestone seller/engraver (they blast and they have spare time).

I agree with all of the above. IF you can find a good blaster locally. This was a real problem for me. I spend $600 to have my first cab blasted (fenders, hood, bedsides too). When I got it back, it was a dull green color and there was alot of rust, paint, even dirt in places when they were done.

Since I am a business owner with a skeptical opinion of the work ethic that no longer exists, I did what I always do when humanity fails me. I just do it myself. We would be a better society if a message were sent to our vendors, suppliers, friends, enemies, etc.. that if you cant seem to figure out how to do your job, we will find someone who will and you can go on welfare! So, that's where I am now, but thanks to you guys suggesting it, next time I have to go outside, I may make a few calls and attempt it again.

I know I shouldn't but will put my two cents in. I think you've identified the problem. That being cheap HF crap. I have two good American made pressure pots. Small one (100 lbs) is a Brut. I think they're in Ohio. It works. My big one is a 300 lb Clemco, 1975 vintage. They're in San Fran if I'm not mistaken and still making quality pots. Two other observations. First, I do not use sand. 30-60 copper slag works great. I also do not sift and reuse. You just can't clean it up enough and it clogs. Third, water is the enemy. We all know that. I live in the desert where we don't have much in the air but you have to remember that your compressor makes water, especially if it's working hard. You need a good trap or two to catch it before it gets to the pot or you're done.

Ditto on what Alvin and TC said.
Lot less aggravation.

Why take it somewhere when these "Dustless Blast" guys will come right to your location and blast it clean. The guy here in Myrtle Beach, SC is very reasonable and cleans up after himself. He charged a friend of mine $125.00 to blast his '55 Chevrolet frame clean. It was REALLY clean and no nasty pitting. I was impressed.

Tim

Was planning on having the cab and box from my '50 dipped when
I get them off the frame. I had the front clip chemically
dipped a few years back, which would still be my first
choice, but I think the dipper had to close his doors
due to pressure from the EPA.
I just looked up "Dustless Blast" for our area Tim. Yep,
there's one about 40 miles south of me. Have to give them a
call when I get my tin off. Probably gonna have to start out
with at least a couple hundred in travel cost for the 80 mile
round trip. Do they bring their own water????
dg

He used the fine sand that I get to do it but a guy came to my neighbor's about a year ago and blasted his '50 GMC. It was all apart except for the cab sitting on the chassis. The guy did it all, plus blasted a big Kerosene tank for me, for $340 total. I know he used 20 bags of sand. The guy has been doing this for just about 20 years and hails from around Asheville, N.C. Made me sick when I think about all I went through to "do it myself" when I did my panel.
Just throwing this in for what its worth!

...again, if it won't fit in the Skat-Blast it goes to someone else. Old dogs can learn new tricks!

My local blaster charges 90 bucks an hour. Well worth it.

Having spent many, many hours with my hands in the gloves
Alvin, it's not an new trick to me. A blast cabinet is the
only way to go and I'm just dying to find the room for one
here at the new place. In the mean time I thought I'd try to
get by and give the open air DIY blasting a shot. But now I'm
absolutely convinced that you have to be a glutton for punishment
to prep your own large parts with a pot out behind the barn.

Chemicals are still my favorite way to strip paint and rust,
but those places are rapidly disappearing from the landscape.
Here in the barn, I've yet to find room for my Phosphoric acid
bath. That works great for any small parts that will fit into
a 50 gallon rubber made tub.

DG

RediStrip in Roselle Illinois. I believe they do vehicle bodies.
My buddy had his 50 COE sand blasted and they warped the sheet metal on the top and back panel. They are a reputable place and it still happen.

Too large of blast media at too much pressure. Happens so easily. Most people do not have the patience to do it right. It takes me a few days to do a Cab. Maybe three days if things go slower than expected maybe due to really heavy paint. This is because I use about 80 pounds of pressure and very very fine sand. I want a perfect job so that is the price you pay for that with blasting.

The dustless system incorporates water so it keeps it cool. No warpage and it probably takes them less than half the time. If I ever do outside blasting again, which is a distinct possibility, I will look for a dustless solution.

Denny, I am in the printing business. Back in the old days we could just pour the caustic chemicals in a barrel all together. These days they come in and ask you exactly where each containment barrel is located so they can assure you are not doing that. Then, they look over every square inch of the 6600 Sq Ft Building to see what else they can clip you for. I do not want anything to do with chemicals any more than I have to. Once they get your number, you won't either. The cost to get rid of the chemicals makes it very difficult to stay in business. Not that its wrong, its just another cost that has to be passed on to the consumer. Don't get me started. Sadly, the days when you can do whatever you want on the sanctity of your own property is long gone.

I did buy the big cabinet at Harbor Freight with vacuum

Caught a sale when it was not picked by someone.

had to replace gloves within a few months,and my nephew got me an industrial air dryer to put in line

It has worked well enough for what I have done,does take up a lot of space when not being used.
kind of like the big machines in Denny's garage (not too jealous)

Believe me, that's a curse rather than a blessing many times!

dg

Had an interesting project this fall. A buddy with a shipping container. First impression, darn that thing is big. He has some farm equipment and a nice outside space so off we went. First, a pressure pot blaster(HF). No joy. He does have a big I.R compressor so air was not the issue. Blast media stuck in every possible location. Next up was a pressure washer(his is a Hotsy). Again the issue was stuck media in the line. So finaly we came up with some black slag media, and a bucket for a vacuum type pickup added to the output nozzle. Worked great. Water stopped the dust. Fixed the heater so my hands did not get cold. And, got him to use a hood to keep his glasses safe. Still some issues with media, It was as big and coarse as would fit through the gun. Smaller grit would have been better. So the take away was, water blasting works better out side. Splatter was the only issue and a farm field took that with little concern. I know, some one will wonder where all that residue went, but it was spread out pretty well. Not a process for a yard I don't think, but with out dust(splash is not dust) and with a bit of effort. Took 4 days to do the sides, top and the ends. Was more work to get the pressure pot moved and hoses dragged when painting.