Stovebolt.com Forums The Front Office The Greasy Spoon Hey buddy....heard ya got a new........

Sandblaster! Waited 74 years to get my sandblaster, never could afford one
on my blue collar salary, but at my age, well....you cant take it with you, so I
broke down and spent my airplane money from selling the Pitts I built and
bought a TP Tools Scat Blaster. A BIG ONE at that.
Over the years on very rare occasions, I'd been able to use the blasters at my
place of employment. Every blaster I'd used had some sort of problem with it.
Depleted sand (good media is expensive) bad vacuum cleaner or broken and
couldn't see for the dust, so you blasted blind. Leaked like a sieve. Gloves worn
out with holes in them or taped up. Nozzles worn out. Inadequate air supply and
moisture laden air.
Now all of a sudden I'm getting lots of 'buddy's with their own projects and their
friends and relatives projects. Don't quite know how to tell them....that I've sunk
four grand in the cabinet, another three in the compressor and the blast media
I use runs about a buck a pound and breaks down pretty fast. The lens protectors
are about eight bucks and only last a few days worth of blasting, new gloves are
about thirty and nozzles ain't cheap either. Blast cabinets are not perpetual motion
machines and are loaded with consumables, in other words, they take a lot of upkeep
to keep them working properly. None of that covers the tremendous wear and tear on
a compressor and the cost of running a 5hp motor for 8 hours of blasting.
So....my delema is how to tell them that I got it for 'my' use, it's not community property
and it's gotta last me for the next 25 years.
Guess I'm just gonna have to make some more enemy's.
dg

Denny, I have a few parts that need cleaned, can I use your blaster? Well son, this blaster ain't for public use, period!

You just need to tell them NO!

Enjoy that new piece of equipment.

As Barney would say, nip it in the bud, just nip it.

Charge them a fee. See if you can make a buck.

agree, even if you charged them half what they would pay other wise , you can still
recoop what you spent, and they got a deal and able to keep a friend,.........well maybe

which reminds me,, when they say Hey Buddy.. you know something is up
sort of like when my wife calls me by my first name in a long drawn out manner, I am in trouble

I tell them to go to an industrial blaster (or, a grave stone "engraver") if it is a large part, because that is what I do/did.

If it is a small or delicate part, I blast it for a friend - it has to have all paint removed, and all loose rust removed (chemical rust remover, usually). I have never lost a friend, or ever had a friend object.

Well that's kind of what I've been thinking Tim. Even though I've got a big cabinet
all I want in there are small jobs. If one wants to blast all the parts that hang off of the
his frame or cab they should do what I've done.....i.e., search out a commercial
blaster in the area.
I wanted the big cabinet so I could get a fender or door in it. But that was just so I could
touch up a rusty spot, not to blast the entire part. What a lot of guys don't realize is how
long you have to stand bent over pushing a half inch wide blast pattern around to do a
large panel. For instance....to do a door, fender or bed part inside and out could take
most all of a morning or afternoon. And the compressor would have to run almost
continuously while doing it.
I still feel uncomfortable when I have to turn someone down.
The neighbor keeps hinting about borrowing my log splitter and sprayer, which I had to
work lots of extra hours to get. When ever I needed anything like that I'd go to the rental
place and wear their equipment out.
dg

I would say, I mean no harm but I dont loan out..etc

I have a few friends that like to loan me things that will need some repair or oil changes.
They know that if I borrow it.
It will come back to them in better shape than I got it.
It's not hard to say no to them, but I usually end up working on it anyway.

Don

Sadly just say no........you can do it for true friends and they will appreciate....others just a plain forceful NO
Dan