Stovebolt.com Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Sandblast it yourself and save money!!

i just have my cone shaped ceramic nozzle wedged into a brass fitting that unscrews fast if it dose clog whitch hardly happens now unless i get the sand flowing to fast

Denny thats why i dont use a gun just put the nozzel inside of a brass fitting when i want to stop sanding i just unplug the air iv gotten real good at it and gotten fast at clean up and yes these blasters are all the same it seems ive used the same nozzel for at least 5 bags of sand and im sure it will go 5 more but my hose may need replacement soon i may just get another blaster for parts good luck

I have not had any problems with the deadman valve or ceramic nozzles as yet but they are parts that normally wear so I expect to need replacements eventually. For what I use it for it works fine.

I have a feeling that the Black Beauty/Black Blast (just coal slag) might be more abrasive than silica. It is quite aggressive but leaves a nice finish that is ready to prime. I've seen sandblasted surfaces that were so rough that they needed to be sanded before priming. I've heard from several people that the silica leaves very fine microscopic residue imbedded in the surface that can cause paint problems and that the Black Beauty doesn't.

Houston, there are two different types of Deadman guns, you apparently have the old type. The one that many of the new small inexpensive pressure blaster are shipping with is the Maxus that I show in my webshot. I’ve seen normal wear of blasting nozzles since I have used the blast cabinets for several decades. You should get many days worth of use from a nozzle before it wears out. And as I’ve already mentioned it’s the rubber and steel parts that are eroding on these guns. From what some of you other guys are saying it seems apparent that they have had the same problems with theirs also. The get-around is to either replace the gun or eliminate it altogether as 32fire2 admits to.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I'm pretty sure the guys at Langley U-Blast aren't relatives, Denny... they're just "relatively" cheap!

When Alvin sent me the tailgate for the '37 I needed a sandblasting place to clean it up, and a guy on Craigslist wrote to say he'd used them before and that if I was willing to sandblast it myself using their equipment I could save some money...

I'd never sandblasted anything before but hey, I'm always willing to broaden my horizons and learn new things so I went down and worked on the old tailgate and within 30-40 minutes I had it done and was pretty impressed with the result... not bad for a rookie!

At the time I didn't think $50/hr was cheap but after reading this thread I'm pretty happy with the deal I got!

~Trev

Silica sand is dangerous to use. The silica can become embedded in your lungs and cause silicosis. Even if you wear a fresh air supply, the residue on your clothing is dangerous. It's best to avoid silica sand.

Denny why not try electrolysis? Ive been going that route lately on all my parts. Ive been trying random containers and setups and my best so far is to just use a garbage can with several pieces of steel bar around the outside.

darn near every part thats come off my coe has been tanked and it works great! Transmission, driveline, master cylinder, all manner of small parts, no big deal. It works wonders. If you let it run all night all the old paint comes right off with a hunk of scotchbrite or brush. A few minutes of scrubbing with a wire brush and scotchbrite, rinse, repeat, tank, etc, dry and paint.

Ill eventually build a big tank to use and do even larger stuff. Well worth the small amount of effort it takes to just sit there with your hands in your pocket and let the work take care of itself. If you want any pics let me know.

Jeff

Ya see, no one wants to admit that they are having a problem with their tools for fear that people will think that they are not handy with tools. The manager at HF said that he’s sold hundreds of these and I was the first one that complained he was having a problem, now that’s BS. That’s like saying their customers have never had to replace the grinding wheels on their tool.
Fact: Nozzles wear out whether they are ceramic, steel, carbide etc. Rubber in the abrasive stream just doesn’t work. However, they are not supposed to wear out in an hour. You should be able to get somewhere around a hundred hours out of a nozzle.

Joe, that gun/valve/nozzle on ebay is just exactly what I had in mind right after I saw what had happened to mine. I felt sure that it was happening with all of those that used a stop block. If I remember correctly years ago that ball valve setup is what almost all of the pressure blasters used. I remember seeing them on commercial blasters that they used for cleaning buildings. Since I have a lathe all have to do is find a readily available source for the ceramic nozzles and make an adaptor for it to fit a 1/2” or 3/4” ball valve. In fact I just bought a 1/2” ball valve at Blane’s F&F for less than five bucks on Monday. I was going to replace the 3/8” valve on the bottom of the tank to try to eliminate the clogging.
The other link you posted to NT&E shows a gun that eliminates half the problem, it’s $50 and the same as the one Eastwood is selling for $72. The other half of the problem is that it still has a stop block, which will erode rather quickly and needs to be replaced very often to the tune of $8 to $15 depending on your vendor.

Yes, silica can lead to silicosis; by this point in time just about anyone that has been exposed to any shop environment has heard of this, OSHA has made sure of that. The major component in most sand is silica (silicon dioxide or SiO2), so if you think you’re skirting around the silica by using Play Sand, think again. For paint and rust removal probably the safest blasting media is Aluminum Oxide but is way to expensive to use in an open system and is only practical for use in a closed cabinet. Also there are many products that are produced by DuPont and used professionialy and I have no idea where you would be able to buy small quantities; http://www.titanium.dupont.com/NASApp/TTPORTAL/Mediator?action=4160 .
So the only practical media choices that we have are sand and slag. And like the paints we use today, we just need to apply some common sense when we use them.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Jeff I figured your reply deserved a separate response. First off I was not aware that the electrolyses would take paint off also. That is my major concern with most of my truck and this latest endeavor as there is very little rust, I just want to get the paint off and start with fresh metal.
I was looking at poly livestock watering troughs when I was in F&F the other day and there are some very large tanks available for under $100. They are almost large enough to submerge a fender or door in if the process works.
One of the many things that has concerned me about using electrolyses for rust removal is something called current density. The larger the volume of electrolyte the larger the current supply needs to be. So far I have heard about a hundered, or more, different versions or opinions of how this is applied to rust removal and they all vary according to what to make the electrolyte out of and what to use for electrodes and what to use for power supplies. The whole subject at this time seems way to fragmented for me to take seriously.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I use a dinky little 12 volt charger with a 32 gallon garbage can. Works great. I was using a rubbermaid tub, decided I wanted to go bigger and stepped up to the garbage can. I used a bunch of scrap steel for the electrodes and have them wired together around the outside of the can standing up. I hang the part in the center and plug it in. My opinion is that there is no better way to derust and clean parts. I noticed a HUGE difference with the more electrodes I added. I have them spaced 6-8" around the can and the whole thing turns into a frothy mess within minutes.

I use arm and hammer washing soda. Soaking in this seems to degrease and soften the paint so that it comes right off with a wire brush or just rinsing. Granted, the stuff Ive been using it on has been sitting for 50+ years, but I swear by it.

Id say try it out. If you spend 6$ on a box of washing soda and a few gallons of water, are you really out that much in time and money? Id save buying an expensive tub until you try it and see how you like it. Just make a plywood box out of scrap and through a few layers of plastic in it if you need a container to fit.

This is a great example

Jeff